Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
The recently tabled Department of Health 2012-2013 Annual Report mentions Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus at 46.6 cases per 10,000 patients. However, on the same department website there’s an epidemiology newsletter, called Epi North 2012, Volume 22, Issue 1, which states during a similar reporting period of 16 months, field epidemiologist Katie Rutledge for the department reported laboratory results of 267 cases with 345 MRSA infections. Factoring and removing the extra four months and when you compare apples to apples and case management reporting, this leaves a disparity of these lab results reported to what is being underreported in the annual report. Can the Minister account for this difference? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s an incredibly detailed question, but I will certainly get back to the department to see if we can figure out what that discrepancy has resulted from. Thank you.
Thank you. Detail is my middle name.
Going back to the alarming statistic that, on average, one in 12 Canadian hospital patients are being infected with a superbug, if we looked at that recent table of 46.6 MRSA incidents per 10,000 cases, if my math is correct that works out to 0.06 in 12 NWT hospital patients being infected.
Can the Minister account as to why the NWT is reporting such a low number to this national Canadian statistical average? Thank you.
We obviously take these types of situations very seriously and we are doing a number of things within the department and our authorities to control infections but also report on infections. One of the things that we have done is we have defined minimum competencies and skill sets for all practitioners within our system, and we review and modernize existing infection and control standards and standards for sterilization on a regular basis. We’ve also implemented a surveillance system of reportable infections and we’re working to develop, or we have developed and implemented reporting and compliance mechanisms.
So with respect to the detailed specifics that the Member is asking, I don’t have those in front of me, but I’d be happy to go to the department and get that detail for the Member. Thank you.
That was a great paid political announcement, but it didn’t answer my question. I believe the reason why we don’t see the same numbers statistically is that we don’t reflect that in our accounting, we don’t count these superbugs. In fact, we do not report any other superbug other than Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus and there are a lot more bugs out there that make these alarming statistics.
Can the Minister indicate why his department consistently does not data collect, analyze, monitor and report these other deadly superbugs in our NWT health facilities? Thank you.
There are a number of infections that are not reportable under the Public Health Act because hospitals are required to monitor these under their own set of regulations. However, as we get copies of lab results and other things, we’re able to determine where some of these exist.
With respect to a greater level of reporting on these particular infections, certainly I’d love to have some more discussion with the Member as well as committee to find out or to improve the system that we have in place. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to work with the Minister on that one. I’d appreciate it.
It has been stated by many infectious disease specialists that our cleaners are, in many ways, the front-line gatekeepers against superbugs, but these days we know that with shrinking budgets and hospital demands, this department is all too easy a target for cuts.
Can the Minister indicate what his department is doing to strengthen our cleaning services in all our health care facilities to combat these superbugs? Thank you.
We have a new NWT Infection Prevention and Control Manual that was released in 2012. It contains all the standards of practice required by health care facilities to prevent and control the spread of infectious disease. The manual has been distributed throughout the Northwest Territories. Health and social services authorities have a lead responsibility to implement and audit these standards within their facilities and client service settings, but we have sent that out to all authorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
