Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last couple of weeks a number of my colleagues have made statements in this House and asked questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services on mental health issues and Stanton Territorial Hospital; in particular, patients in the psychiatric unit on the third floor. The newspaper and the media over the last couple of weeks have also identified a situation where a patient was able to come and go when they were supposed to be under the care of the psychiatric unit.
If we go back even a little bit further, in November, a young resident of the Northwest Territories who was in the psychiatric unit and released on a temporary pass, left her home and has never been seen again. If we go back in time further and further, there are many, many incidents and situations of people who have been in the psychiatric unit who have left either on a day pass or on their own, with conditions to come back, who have never been seen again.
These are troubling. It goes to what the policies and procedures are within Stanton and what allows a release or what kind of supervised release people should be under. We need to make sure that our hospital is a safe place and that people who need care and treatment, even when they’re being released on a temporary basis, have some protocols in place to ensure that we can track those individuals and make sure that they’re healthy once they’re out.
Later today I’ll be asking the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services what types of review have been done on the system to ensure that people with mental health issues who are being released on a temporary basis are monitored and that we have certainty that they are being released in a safe manner so that they do come back safe and sound rather than disappear forever. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
