Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Canadian citizens, residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte have the ability to receive medically necessary services anywhere in the country that they wish. The NWT actually has a reciprocal billing arrangement with all the provinces and territories throughout the country under our obligations under the Canada Health Act. These agreements ensure that residents obtain medically necessary physician and hospital services when they are temporarily outside of the Northwest Territories without having to pay up front. This is true everywhere, with the exception of Quebec who will likely bill up front and then, through our reciprocal billing, we will reimburse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think the Minister’s talking about someone who wanted to privately do it, but what we’re talking about is residents not having any confidence of using our health care in those smaller communities and it’s sad to say that, standing up here today. But the residents want to have an arrangement with BC Health and I think one of the barriers was the electronic medical records, so we’ve got that now.
I was wondering if the Minister can move forward with making an arrangement where residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte can go to Fort Nelson for their health care needs. Thank you.
First and foremost we should be working with the residents of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte to restore their confidence in the health care system. We are moving forward to make significant changes in how we provide services. I did have an opportunity to visit Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte and I have been working closely with the public administrator and CEO, trying to find ways to restore that confidence.
If somebody is sick, they should use the health centre. But as a resident of Canada, they do have the right to go wherever they chose and we do have reciprocal billing agreements.
Our challenge isn’t with our ability to ensure that those medically necessary services are paid for, because we have agreements in place. Our challenge is if an individual chooses, under their own choice, to go to, say, Fort Nelson for a doctor’s appointment and then that doctor in turn refers that person to home care or some other diagnostic process, they will often refer within their own system for which we don’t have reciprocal billing agreements. If somebody wants to receive home care and it’s ordered in BC but they want it delivered in Fort Providence, we actually have no records of that order actually taking place, which is, I think, the point the Member is trying to get to.
We need to make an arrangement with BC. But before we do that, we’re actually working on refreshing our agreements with Alberta and Nunavut and that’s going to help inform the discussions with BC, should we choose to go in that direction.
I’ve asked the department to complete a bit of a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether it’s actually going to be feasible to establish this specific service agreement for residents of the Deh Cho between the NWT and BC and that will also help inform the discussions. But in the meantime, somebody who wishes to go to BC will not be billed for medically necessary services.
I think the Minister touched briefly about one of the core issues. The core issue is that they’re being turned away from the health centres; they are being given aspirins and they don’t have the confidence to say… In fact, in a couple of cases – the Minister was there – we heard residents just say, “Okay, fine. I’ve got a sick child. I’m going to Fort Nelson to get my sick child’s needs taken care of.” That shouldn’t be, Mr. Speaker. Our health care system should pay attention to all of our constituents who are out there, take care of their needs, identify what exactly is the problem and that’s what I’m getting at. I’m talking about that they should be getting referred over to Fort Nelson for quicker attention and for their health needs. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I did visit Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte with the Member and we did actually have this conversation and we want to have the best health care possible here in the Northwest Territories. We want to make sure that when an individual goes into that Fort Liard Health Centre, they’re getting proper treatment and diagnosis and referral as appropriate. Currently, it’s a referral within the Northwest Territories or to Alberta, and as I indicated, we’re going to finish our work with Alberta and Nunavut which will help inform future discussions with BC.
But, Mr. Speaker, in the meantime, when we were in Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte, I asked those residents who were expressing their concerns to work with us. We have a quality assurance professional in each of the authorities who can help us make improvements within the local delivery systems and address those concerns that have been raised.
I strongly encourage residents who are having issues to please get in touch with the quality assurance staff in the Dehcho authority so we can look into the issues that the residents are bringing forth so we can fix them and work with the communities to restore the confidence in the system.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The residents, when I go there, speak loud and clear. In Slavey they say...[English translation not provided.]…and also they say…[English translation not provided.]…which means they’re not helping us and they’re not caring about us. That’s why they go into Fort Nelson.
If I can ask the Minister one last question, Mr. Speaker, can our health care care for these people in the smaller communities? There’s got to be a core issue there. Can we find out what that is? Mahsi.
All health and social services are available to all residents of the Northwest Territories. They don’t always occur in the community where somebody lives, but we have mechanisms to bring people to care or provide care by individuals coming in from time to time. We can meet the needs of our residents.
I recognize there are some challenges, but I would once again say, work with us. Get the Members who are having their concerns talk to the quality assurance so that we can investigate the individual issues to identify the root causes for some of these problems and work with the communities.
I’m committed to working with the communities to help restore confidence and bring back some confidence in the system for those communities where they’re struggling. I’ve made that commitment in Fort Liard. I made that commitment in Nahanni Butte. I’ve made the commitment to the Member. I’ve talked to the public administrator. We all want what’s best for the people of the Northwest Territories. We want best health, best care, for the best future here.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Blake.
