Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in June 2022, I tabled Motion 5419(2), improving healthcare in small communities, calling for the Government of the Northwest Territories to conduct an external audit of client treatment records and client satisfaction. The response to the motion stated: Regular audits are undertaken at each health centre to ensure health services are delivered according to clinical practice standards and guidelines.
Can the Minister of health explain what a clinical audit in the small community health centre includes? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have only highlevel information in this area. I can't answer that question. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister commit to prioritizing client satisfaction of Indigenous persons in the audit? And I'll still keep speaking to the audited. Mahsi.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the response to the Member's motion, there was quite an extensive section on cultural safety and how it was being pursued through initiatives such as the Indigenous patient advocates who were introduced today, as well as through cultural safety training, the living well together curriculum, which all civil servants are required to complete, and through to the office of client experience. Pardon me, the Office of Cultural Safety which provides inhouse training on cultural safety to increase confidence of Indigenous patients using the healthcare system. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a preventative maintenance program, you fix the small problems before they become too major and costly. And in this situation, you know, it can cost people their lives. And that's why I've been after getting an audit almost like I don't know what you would call it. It's an internal audit, like of the services within the health centre what the person the ailment going into the health centre, how it was diagnosed, what was the outcome of the diagnosis, and what was the remedy for it. Those are becoming very important as we're hearing more and more all the time about misdiagnosis.
So I'm wondering if the Minister can commit to prioritizing the standards for diagnosis, rates of correct diagnosis, and the rates of misdiagnosis in the audit? Mahsi.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can't make that commitment to go over each patient's file and determine whether they were appropriately diagnosed. Audits generally are samples. They don't look at every single file. If somebody has a specific complaint about the way they were treated, concerns about the way they were treated, that they feel they were misdiagnosed, this is what the office of client experience is for as well as our other quality assurance processes. It's there to make sure that patients have a venue in which to make their concerns known and, more importantly in some ways, have them resolved. And so if the Member knows of people who are suggesting that they haven't been treated appropriately, then I encourage him to provide them with the information for the office of the client experience to resolve their issues. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Deh Cho.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the response to the motion, and it's written, is regular audits are undertaken at each health centre. Now, we don't know what the audits include because our concern, as residents, is they're not addressing the root issue of the problems. People are going in there multiple times with the same ailment and they're not being diagnosed properly at the outset. And I've always said if they don't know what is wrong with the patient and he's severely looking like he's in distress, they should be sent to a specialist ASAP. But as, you know, we're Indigenous so they won't spend that money on us. I'm really hoping that the Minister would explain to us what they mean by regular audits are undertaken. What audits are undertaken compared to the ones that I'm requesting? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll just start by saying that we run a public health system. It's for all residents of the NWT. It is funded to provide care by doctors and nurses in acute care settings and health centres and to provide for medical travel to people who have to travel. So to make an outrageous statement like nothing's going to happen because they're Indigenous is offensive to the people who work in our system every day to provide the best quality care to residents.
In terms of what's included specifically in an audit, I will ask the department to provide more information on that point and send that response to the Member when it's available. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
