Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. When we have a dysfunctional system and it starts to break down, as government we usually try to intervene and basically bring it back up on its footings. I’ll use the Stanton hospital, where they hired a public trustee to intervene with the major deficit that’s being handled by the Stanton hospital.
Presently there are some 45 vacancies in the Inuvik hospital, yet they’ve been running deficits year after year. In this House we’ve been passing supplementary appropriations to bail them out. When you have 45 vacancies in a health system, that tells me there’s something wrong.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Health: what is she doing to intervene like she did at the Stanton hospital, where she appointed a public trustee? How soon can we see the appointment of a public trustee to the Inuvik hospital?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
The Stanton Territorial Health Authority has been under the management of a public administrator since 2002, I believe. What I did was appoint a new public administrator in May of this year.
With respect to Beaufort-Delta, there is no plan to dissolve that board and appoint a new public administrator. As the Member is aware, the Strategic Initiative Committee on Refocusing Government is reviewing the work of all the boards under Health and Social Services; Housing; and Education, Culture and Employment. We will have to wait to see the outcome of that work.
I do take the Member’s point that it is my job to make sure the boards are functioning at their optimum level, and we are doing a lot of work with Beaufort-Delta in that regard.
Mr. Speaker, I should also note that vacancies don’t usually save us money. Often vacancies cost us money. Having vacancies does not mean we don’t deliver the work. We do deliver the work by locums, staff-fills, floating nurses or doctors. So often vacancies do cost money. The boards try to fill vacancies as much as possible. But there is a lot of pressure in getting health care professionals into our communities.
Mr. Speaker, to have 45 vacancies in a health system is not healthy. Someone is paying for 45 positions in a system that…. Basically, it was passed in a budget in this House to cover the costs of 45 individuals to fill those positions. If they are bringing locums and whatnot in, again that tells me there is really something wrong here.
I’d like to ask the Minister again: not waiting for a review of a committee, will she seriously take a look at the health crisis we have at Inuvik hospital, realizing that it’s running a deficit, it has 45 vacancies, and basically it’s not doing what it should be doing? Why are you not intervening in regard to finding a way to improve the system by approving a public trustee to oversee the problem at Inuvik hospital?
Mr. Speaker, all of our health authorities are under pressure in terms of the capacity and the ability to recruit and retain health care professionals, especially in areas of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners. We as a government are working to encourage as many as possible of our northern trained nurses and nurse practitioners, midwives and whoever to be able to go to the regional centres. At the same time, the Department of Health and Social Services and Beaufort-Delta are working closely together to look at our operations and numbers and finances to see what is causing the deficit and what we can do to ameliorate that situation going forward.
All health boards in the Northwest Territories are not running deficits. There are two health systems in the Northwest Territories: the Stanton hospital and the Inuvik health system. There are only two places that have been running deficits for the last number of years. The other three systems have — and in some cases, had — surpluses, and good surpluses.
For me to stand here and hear the Minister say that it’s a problem right across the board…. It’s not a problem right across the board. The problem is in two locations: the Stanton health centre and the Inuvik regional board of health. I’d like to ask the Minister: why is it that you continue to allow this practice to continue, knowing that services aren’t being delivered and that you have 45 vacancies and they’re running a deficit?
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to note that the two authorities that are under the most pressure and having a significant deficit are the ones with a hospital. Stanton has a hospital and Inuvik has a hospital. Hay River and Deh Cho have hospitals too, but it’s a different level of hospital care. I think there’s unique pressure in running these hospitals that causes deficits.
The second thing is, whether there’s a board or not or a public trustee doesn’t seem to…. That’s not a factor that helps or doesn’t help deficit situations.
I do want to assure the Member that I am working closely and paying attention and am involved to help the Beaufort-Delta authority figure out and get to the bottom of what is causing the deficit and deal with that issue. I will be working closely with the Member to look at all options.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, the problem that I see happening, especially in the Inuvik region, is that what’s going on at the Inuvik hospital is having a direct impact on services outside the Inuvik hospital in other communities. It’s affecting the delivery in the communities I represent, where we’re seeing health centre closures. We have seen notices posted throughout our community, and that is because of the major problem that is happening at the Inuvik hospital.
I’d like to ask the Minister: exactly why is it that you’re telling our communities, “Sorry; we can’t provide you services, because we don’t have the resources to allow you to operate”? Where you’re closing down health centres, now we find out you’ve got 45 vacancies that aren’t filled in the Inuvik hospital. That, for me, is exactly what the problem is. What are you doing to ensure that this does not have a direct effect on the services that are being provided to our communities when our health centres are being told that they’re being closed for non-emergency patients?
Mr. Speaker, as the Member is aware, there are a variety of reasons why some of these health centres had to reduce their services to core services. None of the health centres have been closed; it’s just that on certain occasions they have to reduce the services to core level. There could be anything from nurses having to travel for training or an HR issue or somebody who was to show up for new employment did not, or sometimes we have pumps breaking down. There are various reasons why some of these units have to be closed.
I think the situation here is that we do have a significant issue with recruiting and retaining health care professionals. I believe the Beaufort-Delta, under its board leadership, is doing everything it can to address that. I’m committed to working closely with the Member and the board, and I have made a commitment to come back with some proposals that we could consider to address that situation.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
