Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In February 2008 I asked the Minister of Health and Social Services questions about the palliative care drug approval process for residents of the Northwest Territories who have been diagnosed as palliative. In April the Minister sent me a letter indicating the department was taking steps to simplify the process for approving coverage of palliative care drugs and that the process would be in place by this past summer.
This is great. Unfortunately, it is not consistent with the way that it is actually working on the front line. Both before and after I asked my questions of the Minister last week, I checked with a number of pharmacists to see how the implementation was proceeding and whether or not palliative patients are experiencing quicker turnaround time. None of the pharmacists I talked to have received notification that there were, or are, new processes in place related to palliative care patients. All of them were able to identify recent situations for palliative care patients who are experiencing delays in obtaining their much needed palliative care medication.
Based on this, I don’t understand how the Minister can state as she did in the unedited Hansard of October 8, 2008, that it is “working out really well.” During the May–June session I asked the Minister to work with the pharmacists in the NWT on developing and implementing a process that would help palliative care patients. I believe that for the benefit of their clients they would still like to have input and help the government streamline these processes.
Residents of the NWT who have been declared as palliative need to be treated with dignity and respect and should not be forced to wait for much needed pain management medication due to the overly bureaucratic processes and procedures of the Department of Health and Social Services.
Later this afternoon I will be asking the Minister of the Department of Health and Social Services questions concerning the new palliative care benefit process and procedures. I will be seeking the Minister’s commitment to work with NWT pharmacists, the frontline providers of any system put in place by the department, to ensure that they are engaged and that palliative patients are not waiting for the required medications. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
