Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, you know, I didn't have a question but I always questions, so I am ready to go. So I think that I'll ask the Minister of health here a question here with respect to medical documents when people go to Alberta.
So, I have been a constituent approached me, and I am sure I am not the only one, Mr. Speaker, so it is important to get this clear on the record, which is what's happening. When constituents travel to Alberta, their doctors don't seem to have their information and they are told they can't send them. So what the department doing in the context of interim solutions, I believe that they're changing the health program, network, software, whatever, but promised constituents are still traveling south without that information and it's causing frustration and problems. Does the Minister have an update or a solution? Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when patients are traveling down to Alberta, depending, I mean, wherever they are coming from, there's different systems that we use and yes, I've mentioned it many times in this House, that the systems that we use don't talk with Alberta systems and that is why our it is in the business plan, and that we are updating our EMR, our electronic medical records, in the health system. One of those things is to, hopefully, to make sure that it does have the opportunity to connect with Alberta. What they do currently, there are many different ways that they do send documents and at this point if there, you know, depending on what clinic they are going to, what specialist they are going to, you know, there is many different things so I can get back to the Member on the ways that we provide information when we do referrals to Alberta Health. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While constitutents are showing up at referrals by doctors to doctors in Alberta without the information some there must be some type of standard practice, including package and process that's going on now, because we can't or being proposed now, because we can't have people being sent on medical travel. What a waste of money to send them there without the information. So, what is currently being done by the department to help fill this or solve this problem? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we send thousands of people to Alberta so if a Member wants to know about a specific instance, is this something that he has multiple constituents that are coming to him and so if he wants to bring this forward to my office, I would gladly look into it. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am thinking this is a bigger picture which is people can't as the Minister has acknowledged, the systems don't talk to each other so there must be a standard of care on how we are packaging this information, whether we are emailing it down to them, or we're sending it with a constituent or we're sending it in a secure bag. Like, what's the practice of the department in these particular cases if files can't be emailed or systems can't talk to each other, they must be able to work this problem out. And it can't be an individual constituent based on the fact that the Minister has acknowledged that the systems don't talk to each other. So I am asking how do they do this or what are they working on as an interim solution? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before we even had electronic medical records, our patients traveled so, like I say again, if this is a specific instance because if it is and if there are many people that are going to appointments, they are not complaining through my office so maybe they're going through the Office of Client Experience and that's where I would tell these clients to also go. I would encourage any MLAs to encourage their constituents to go through the Office of Client Experience. This way we can document what the issues are and then we can rectify them if this is a bigger issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, wouldn't the Minister want to know how documents go from the NWT to Alberta and hence, you know, it would be nice to know from a constituency point of view that it may apply to other Members but the issue is that if the systems don't talk to each other, I would think that the Minister would know how they communicate their medical health information in today's environment of security information and the details, so I would think that there would be a practice and process in place, and that's what I am asking for. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did commit to get the many ways that we do this and I there is way to do it and I am not going to sit here and explain from this health centre we do it this way and sometimes if they are coming in from a small community they may go in a secure with a practitioner. The patient may go. There are multiple different ways, and depending on which physicians and, you know, so. This is the coordination of our special clinics when they refer, they have their processes and so if there are individual so there doesn't seem to be an issue, because it hasn't come to light, and so if there is an individual issue or if this is an ongoing issue with the Member's constituents, then I suggest that they either reach out to my office or reach out to him and then come through my office or the Office of Client Experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
