Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services following up on my Member’s statement. We have been waiting for several years for the long-promised territory-wide midwife program. People are starting to question whether this government is really serious about implementing one. We get assurances, but so far little action. We do not have any idea what this territorial program is currently looking like. I want to ask the Minister, to start with, what is the status of the program and where are we in the process to implement it? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister of Health, Minister Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the 2015-16 fiscal year, $1.97 million in core funding was allocated for midwifery services in the Northwest Territories. Of that $1.97 million, it funds two midwifery positions in Fort Smith – both of which are now full – and the program costs. It also funds two midwifery positions in Hay River and also the program costs. Those positions are also full.
It also funds an NP position which is providing midwifery-type services for pre-birth throughout the region through community health nurses who is part of the MORE OB program up in the Beaufort-Delta. It was a desire of the region and of the people to move in that particular direction, recognizing the award winning MORE OB program in the Beaufort-Delta. That left some money available to move forward with the territorial Midwifery Program of the $1.97 million. This fiscal year, we got permission from committee to use $453,000 of that to move forward with the development of a human tissue and organ donation registry with the Government of Alberta. We are continuing to move on that.
The rest of the money for this fiscal year, 2015-16, was intended to be used to hire some midwifery consultants in the department to actually begin a design. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it took longer than had been hoped to find the midwifery staff who can actually do that work. But I am happy to say we have now filled both of those consultant positions. Now that we have those positions filled, meetings with the NWT Advisory Committee on Midwifery are going to be resuming this month and the design is going to continue to move forward with a territorial program that will be based here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for providing that clarification. The original midwifery report, NWT report, identified Inuvik as one of the four locations of interest, but Health has now decided to support doctors with obstetric skills instead, plus the one position. I am hearing concern about lack of consultation leading up to this decision in the Beaufort-Delta. It seems prudent to ask the public for their opinion before opting for a very different model that does not include midwives.
I ask the Minister who was consulted in the Beau-Del and what public engagement was conducted before the decision to scrap the midwife program in that region. Mahsi.
When that number or that decision to put a midwifery program in the Beaufort-Delta was originally decided or originally included in the report, a number of realities were quite different. We actually didn’t have stable physicians in the Beaufort-Delta providing birthing services. They had not implemented the MORE OB program in that particular region and the birth numbers were quite high.
Since that time and prior to this decision, birthing rates in the Beaufort-Delta had stabilized. We had full-time, stable physicians in the community who had actually gone out and put in the MORE OB program in the Beaufort-Delta. It’s actually a recognized and award winning program in the Beaufort-Delta.
Based on discussions with the physicians, practitioners in the community and some other stakeholders who had a vested interest, it was determined, given the low number of births and the desire of the physicians to still be involved in birthing that it would be more appropriate to focus on the front end part of the Midwifery Program, which is the education and working with the community health nurses. As a result, the Beaufort-Delta decided to take a slightly different direction, where they brought in a nurse practitioner to work as part of the MORE OB team to provide some of the pre-birth work that a midwife would actually do. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. Yellowknife had a midwife before we embarked on a territory-wide program. Now we don’t, but we now have two coordinator positions apparently with a goal of developing a territorial Midwifery Program based in Yellowknife and expanding into areas such as the Deh Cho and Behchoko.
I’m wondering: how does this affect the future of having practicing midwives in Yellowknife for Yellowknife, Ndilo, Detah and this region given the need for program delivery staff who support the territorial model. Mahsi.
The Member has been around long enough to remember that the midwifery position that was at the Yellowknife Health and Social Services was a completely unfunded position. There were no dollars allocated to that midwifery position. The Member should also remember that the authority chose to put in a Midwifery Program with one NP, which is basically a recipe for failure. There’s no way that one incumbent can actually provide midwifery services given that it’s a 24/7 operation. As a result, the incumbent did choose to leave.
Moving forward, we have the money that will not be utilized in the Beaufort-Delta for their program. They are still requiring some funds, of course, but we anticipate creating a territorial Midwifery Program based out of Yellowknife and the expectation is although they’re providing consultation, advice and support to regions that don’t have midwives, they will also be able to facilitate some midwife-supported births here in Yellowknife. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. So, when will consultations start here? When will we see midwifery here and what the heck is the NWT Advisory Committee on Midwifery? Thank you.
Midwifery services, as I indicated in the business planning process and the budget planning process, there will be planning that will take place during the ’15-16 fiscal year and into the ’16-17 fiscal year. We’re hoping by the end of the ’16-17 fiscal year we should be in a position to have a real solid plan of how many midwives we need and begin the staffing process. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
