Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to update Members on the temporary shutdown of labor and delivery services at Stanton Territorial Hospital. This closure requires the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority to send pregnant people to Edmonton to give birth. I know that this has placed a significant burden on NWT families at what should be a time of joy and celebration. I also recognize that this decision is even more difficult, coming as it does, so close to the holiday season.
This difficult decision was made to ensure the safety of individuals and their newborn babies while we experience an acute staffing shortage. By transferring care to Alberta, we can ensure our territorial hospital maintains capacity to deal with any urgent situations during pregnancy and ensure patient safety.
The priority of NTHSSA, Mr. Speaker, is the patients whose plans for giving birth here in Yellowknife have been disrupted by the temporary closure of those labor and delivery services at Stanton. As soon as hospital leadership confirmed that they were not going to be able to maintain this service, staff began to contact affected patients directly to discuss next steps.
Contact is being made by a team of people who were specifically tasked with discussing the individual circumstances of each patient and their families so together they can come up with a plan that meets the family's needs as much as possible.
Staff will continue to follow up with patients and families to ensure individuals have the information and understand the supports they may require.
The NTHSSA is also working to put together patient resources that will prepare individuals for their trip and the transition of care. Clinical resources in Edmonton are closely collaborating with care teams in the NWT to ensure ample resources and supports for patients are ready, including pre and postnatal care and additional birthing supports.
To date, the NTHSSA medical travel program has worked with 71 clients to determine benefits and eligibility. Of these, 13 families are above the high-income threshold without employer or other benefits, who would be required to pay the co-pay. That said, there is a process to waive this fee if families can demonstrate it is a financial hardship.
Thirtyone families will be covered by employer programs and 26 qualify for non-insured health benefits and will receive additional support through that program. And then finally, seven are considered low-income and they will not be required to pay the co-pay and can have their expenses advanced to reduce any potential financial outlay.
The key piece here, Mr. Speaker, is that most individuals will have access to programs and resources outside the medical travel program. As a result of this initial assessment, NTHSSA is now able to focus on adding support and assisting individuals based on their specific needs.
While staff are making every effort to support patients who are now being asked to give birth in Edmonton, Mr. Speaker, I do want to acknowledge that this is a significant inconvenience for all patients who were expecting to give birth in Yellowknife. Even with support and best efforts from NTHSSA, I know that these are not the circumstances that families wanted, and I am sorry that we are not able to live up to their expectations.
Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure Members that NTHSSA has taken reasonable steps to prevent this temporary shutdown and if there had been any easy solutions, they would have been gladly implemented. NTHSSA has been making every effort to recruit staff in the face of a national nursing shortage that the pandemic has only made worse.
Advertising and active promotion in a variety of locations, including national nursing recruitment sites, has netted only seven applications and one hire since June. An external staffing agency, brought on in October to provide additional assistance, has only managed to identify three additional nurses with varying start dates and contracts still being confirmed. NTHSSA also issued a request for assistance from other provinces and territories but so far have been unable to generate additional staffing from this source, as these staff are in high demand in their home provinces.
NTHSSA is also making efforts to staff from within through redeployment, but different roles require different training and the pool of staff available is not large. I thank the staff in the obstetrics unit who stepped up in response to a call to pick up shifts yet NTHSSA was not able to cover more than onequarter of all shifts in December, which simply was not enough to support the normal labor and delivery service.
While NTHSSA leadership will continue their efforts to fill immediate vacancies, Mr. Speaker, we obviously need a longerterm plan for addressing staffing needs.
Staff at the authority and the department are currently working on a Health and Social Services human resource plan that will include several key pieces to improve their ability to recruit staff. They are also surveying nursing staff directly to make sure plans are informed by an accurate understanding of challenges and concerns.
Finally, because one way to increase the labor supply is to grow the pool of trained people, there are specialized nursing certification training programs to help develop staff where the labor market is not meeting the need. This program will be piloted in the obstetrics unit at Stanton.
I know that challenges in hiring and adding capacity to the workforce are inextricably tied to the challenges of retention. Keeping the great staff we have is more important than being able to attract new talent.
Mr. Speaker, NTHSSA is taking steps to address the more persistent issues that have contributed to this immediate challenge. I recognize that morale issues have been building at Stanton, and they need to be addressed. A near strike, a facility move followed by a challenging startup, and a global pandemic have all contributed to significant change and pressure on staff and leadership at the hospital.
As Minister, I know we need to improve and we need to do so quickly. I have met with staff from the obstetrics unit at Stanton and representatives from the Union of Northern Workers as well as leadership at Stanton, at the health authority, and in the department. We are all on the same page; we need to address this.
Stanton leadership has created a team, including clinical leads and management, to look at the current operational issues in detail and find the quickest path to service resumption with a focus on longerterm sustainability of services.
Stanton leadership is also looking closely at concerns over leave, workload, and compensation that have recently been highlighted as factors contributing to staff morale. The department and the authority are initiating a working group to look at staffing levels, service types, and volumes in the obstetrics unit to determine what appropriate staffing looks like and will look at what interim additional measures may be put in place until this review is complete. The department will also be working directly with the Department of Finance to discuss what options are available to ensure we remain competitive when it comes to attracting staff nationally and retaining the excellent staff we have.
Stanton's chief operating officer has already engaged with staff as part of a review of leave policies and processes that is expected to be complete by January. NTHSSA will also broaden opportunities for staff to meet directly with leadership to put their concerns on the table and help identify solutions. Culture change, Mr. Speaker, takes time but all parties are committed to doing it and doing it right.
Mr. Speaker, these are difficult times for the patients who are now being asked to deliver their babies in Edmonton and for the staff in the obstetrics unit. I want to assure Members that I, the authority, and the department are all committed to moving quickly to address the underlying issues that have led to this situation and we will continue to update you on our progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. Member for Deh Cho.
