Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I spoke about medical travel and some of the issues I had to deal with this past week with medical travel and the policy. First of all, I would like to thank the staff. The patients were able to work with the staff given the numbers and they worked really well together, so I thank them for that. However, Mr. Speaker, this question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Can the Minister please advise this House if his department is looking at the Medical Travel Policy as it pertains to ensuring that anyone over the age of 65 has a non-medical escort made available for them on all medical travel flights? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Health and Social Services is doing a review of the Medical Travel Policy. We've already made a number of changes and improvements, including putting in an appeal mechanism. With respect to whether or not we intend to modify the Medical Travel Policy specifically for an age requirement, that is not something that we're doing right now, Mr. Speaker. I've had an opportunity to travel around the Northwest Territories and meet lots of different individuals, including seniors, and I've had many seniors tell me, just because I'm 65 doesn't mean that I need or should get a non-medical escort.
We have some tight criteria for when an escort is supported, a non-medical escort is supported. In fact, it also has to be based on a clinical referral from a practitioner. Non-medical escorts will be supported when a patient is under the age of 19 and requires an escort, when a patient is breastfeeding an infant and requires an escort, when a patient has a mental or physical disability of a nature that he or she is not able to travel unassisted, and when the patient requires an escort for interpretation during their travel.
In many situations, if a senior has got some mobility issues they will likely get a non-medical escort; if they have communication issues, they will likely get an escort, but it does have to be referred to a physician, and I'm hearing people across the Northwest Territories, as I said, say just because I'm 65 doesn't mean that I'm physically unable to attend meetings on my own.
I appreciate the Minister for his answer. I guess we're talking to two different people or different people out there because the people that are coming to me with issues are over the age of 65 and say they want to have a medical escort, and some of the challenges that I understand with the Minister saying, however we need to work with our seniors and our elders because when they come to us they should be treated with respect. However, I'm going to go onto my next question 'cause instead of arguing we could spend days on this issue together.
Mr. Speaker, last sitting I spoke about patience from the smaller communities and asked the Minister if they were working on setting up a place for these people to stay. So can the Minister please advise me if this is happening? What work is being done? I've been hearing this for non-elders and elders that say, you know, we come here in the morning, we go back at night and we don’t have a place to stay. So can the Minister please advise the House what the department is doing in this regard?
Mr. Speaker, the Member is right. We could probably debate this for an extended period of time, but at the end of the day we do respect our seniors. We are putting programs and services in place in support of seniors. We have a healthy relationship with the NWT Seniors Society. In fact, one of the members of the NWT Seniors Society said just because I happen to be 65 doesn't mean I'm infirm or unable to do these things.
When an individual is challenged, they have some limitations. Of course, Mr. Speaker, we are going to provide non-medical escorts. With respect to the situation that the Member is describing where an individual comes to a community is left for hours or their appointment is hours away from when they land or when they take off. If you're in Yellowknife or Inuvik or I think it's Hay River, we actually have facilities where an individual can go and spend some time, whether it's the hospital or Vital Abel House or one of our other facilities. It's helpful if the Member, the individual who's travelling gives us some head's up that they need some place to go because we can help coordinate that.
The other communities we haven’t been able to resolve those issues at this point. We are coming out with a medical travel book or a passport, if you will, a handout that will go to residents as they're going to be travelling on medical travel that outline all the different numbers by communities, where they can go, where there might be places where they can spend some time so that they have options available to them, but we haven't finalized all those details. We're continuing to work on it.
I thank the Member for that answer. Maybe we can get together so I can get that information and we can share it with people. It's just not people that need it or want it, you should be able to provide that quick knowledge beforehand.
Mr. Speaker, in my previous statements I talked about Fort Nelson Hospital as a first place for residents of the Hamlet of Fort Liard to go and set up residence going to Fort Simpson then to Yellowknife. I realize it's only a three or four-hour trip to Fort Simpson depending on the ferry and only a two-hour drive, but however it's only a two-hour drive to Fort Nelson.
I know it doesn't sound like a big difference of time, but it's huge for our elders and the people from the community of Fort Liard. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise this House if the department is working with the BC government to arrange referrals to Fort Nelson for residents of Fort Liard instead of Yellowknife?
Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to meet with residents of the community of Fort Liard, as well as the Nahanni Butte prior to the election last government where this issue was raised. At that time, I made a commitment that we would follow up with BC once we concluded our negotiations with Alberta. Alberta is our go-to province when we have individuals who need to go out for services that aren't available here in the Northwest Territories. We have agreements and other procedures or protocols in place to have our residents go to Alberta and receive services there.
Once we're done negotiating our new agreement with them, I made a commitment that I would follow up with BC. We haven't finished that agreement; I haven't followed up with BC.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker and I thank the Minister for that answer. It's great to hear. So we're waiting for negotiations in Alberta, but it still doesn't help the residents of Fort Liard. So will the Minister give us a timeline when he expects to talk to the BC government, so that the residents of Fort Liard can be prepared to get service in BC? Closer service, I should say, because it's great service in Simpson and Yellowknife; it's just the distance. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, residents of the Northwest Territories when they travel to other jurisdictions like BC and they go to a hospital or health centre for medically necessary care through reciprocal billing agreements and whatnot, those services are provided to those residents and there's no cost obviously to our residents for doing that.
Where we have a challenge with BC is where a health practitioner in the Northwest Territories makes a referral on behalf of one of our residents to something like an MRI or a specialty clinic that's available in Edmonton or Calgary or in Alberta for specialty services that are not provided in the Northwest Territories.
In those situations, we have to have solid agreements with those jurisdictions. It's not a matter of just showing up and just saying, hey, I want an MRI. You actually have to have a referral; it has to go through a proper protocol. We are finalizing and updating our agreement with Alberta. We hope to be done this year. Once that's done, I will certainly raise the issue with BC and follow up accordingly.
Masi. We've gone through three Members' oral questions and it's been 20 minutes already, so I'd like to remind Members and also Ministers to keep your questions and answers short and concise so we can get through all the oral questions today. Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
