Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Previously in other sittings I have had questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding the boarding home in Yellowknife. Can the Minister advise the House: is that contract renewed every year, annually, or is it an RFP process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process has actually gone through an RFP in the past. I can't tell you exactly how the last one was, whether it was an extension to a contract or whether it was an RFP. I would have to check and get that information, but it does go through an RFP. The current contract that is in place now actually expires on December 31, 2019, and within the contract that we have with them, we do have the ability to extend until December 31, 2024. The contract is not renewed. The authority would follow up through the normal RFP process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have heard a number of concerns from my constituents, most recently about not being able to shower because there are no towels in there. First of all, is the department aware of this situation, and do they tell the patients who are coming there what type of toiletry items they need to bring in?
Like any travel, people should usually take their own basic toiletries and personal grooming items. All of the boarding homes that we contract with do provide bed sheets and pillows and towels. Our 2017 medical travel guide, which has been shared with Members, is available to medical travel patients, and inside that document it actually provides tips on the types of things that individuals should bring with them when they travel. I would encourage anybody going to medical travel to look at that toolkit and make sure that they are bringing along items that they may need.
I have heard a number of concerns from residents about staying at the boarding home. They tried to follow a process of bringing their concerns to staff and management, and nothing seems to change. How does the department investigate the concerns brought to them? Do they actually do an investigation or rely on the contractor to give them feedback?
Complaints are always taken very seriously and are dealt with in a variety of ways, actually, depending on the actual nature of the complaints. As always, the authority attempts to work with our clients and also our partners at the boarding homes themselves to resolve any issues that may arise. If a client does experience an issue, depending on the nature of that issue, obviously, we would encourage them to reach out to the manager of the boarding home that they happen to be staying at, at the time of the incident and when it first occurs, so that it can be addressed immediately.
I can also advise that the Yellowknife boarding home has recently created a position within the boarding home itself with the sole function of improving client services. They have put this position in so that individuals who have concerns can go directly to that position to resolve them real-time and make sure that those types of issues don't arise with other people in the future. If these tools don't work, if these processes don't work, or if it doesn't resolve the issue, the travelling client can get in touch with Medical Travel to express their concerns there and follow the normal quality assurance process so that we can find out what is happening and make sure that it doesn't happen again. In the meantime, I encourage them to work with the boarding homes.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the answers from the Minister. I am looking forward to, hopefully, him sharing who that new person is so that we can then share it with our constituents out there who have those concerns. I guess my last question in regard to this here is: will the Minister have his staff reach out to patients for the past six months to see what their concerns are and how they can be addressed in the future, so that we provide a better service for our residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Once again, the position that I was referencing is actually an employee of the Vital Abel Boarding Home; they are not actually a GNWT employee, and patients would certainly be aware of that individual once they have actually attended, but we will get the information and share it with the Member so that he can share it with others.
As far as myself and the department reaching out, I won't be reaching out to the constituents who have travelled who may have concerns, but I would strongly encourage anybody who does have concerns to follow up with Yellowknife Medical Travel Office and the manager of the Medical Travel Program, who can start looking into these issues. If we have a number of reoccurring similar issues, we can work to address those. For those who don't feel comfortable contacting them directly, I encourage the Member to provide me with the names and consent forms for the individuals, and I am happy to look into the issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
