Mr. Speaker, I have a Return to Written Question 5919(2) asked by the Member for Deh Cho on February 16th, 2023, to the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding Health Care in Small Communities.
Audits conducted in the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, including the Deh Cho region, assess how a health service is administered. The audit process consists of an assessment of appropriate documentation in an individual’s file, confirming that followup recommendation for the specific concern is documented and followed, and is compliant with the expected service standard. In addition, separate and specific audits are conducted to ensure information is transferred between health care providers or that medication information is documented and confirmed in accordance with the relevant policy.
For 20232024, Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority will begin a new cycle to review and implement audits for the core health services delivered to health centres and health cabins.
Patient satisfaction information is collected through a survey conducted across the territory. The most recent survey was concluded in 2022 and the report was released January 2023. Information is collected for health centres in small communities, however due to the small numbers of responses for certain questions, reporting is a detailed breakdown is not available for certain communities. The 2022 NWT Patient Experience Report can be found on the Department of Health and Social Services website. A standardized approach to audits was initiated in 2019 however this work was impacted during the pandemic due to limited capacity. Current audits are focused on reviewing the delivery of the diabetes prevention and management program.
Recent analysis of audited data from October to December 2022, for the Deh Cho region provides a baseline for future comparison. The data set was analyzed by community, as well as for the region, and currently demonstrates consistency with other regions. Trends identified in the audits will inform improvements into the delivery of services related to diabetes prevention and management.
Audits of service or program delivery are not the process to assess misdiagnosis. Investigation of a case of misdiagnosis is done through the quality review process that looks at an individual's experience with a disease diagnosis.
In cases when a diagnosis is provided in a manner that is inconsistent with a practice standard, or the person receives an incorrect, partial, no diagnosis, or did not experience receiving the information about their diagnosis in a safe manner, then a report by the person should be filed. The reported mishandling of an individual's case can be made to a health care provider or a manager within the health and social services system, the regulatory body of the health care provider, or with the Office of Client Experience. Each reported concern or complaint received by the Office of Client Experience is thoroughly reviewed.
Additionally, the reports are collectively reviewed at regular intervals to identify trends for further investigation and action.
