Mr. Steen.
Debates of Feb. 24th, 1998
This is page numbers 1041 - 1091 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairperson.
Topics
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. I have one question to the department and that is, if they could give me some information as to what does the department has in place as far as ensuring up-to-date x-ray equipment that every health centre that should have, like the larger centres? When or what format do you have in place for having these facilities inspected? Are they inspected on a regular basis to ensure they conform?
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Ramsden
Madam Chairperson, there is an ongoing process that each board undertakes to do annual maintenance and assessment of the diagnostic equipment it has in its inventory. The work involved in both, repairing this equipment and assessing its condition is used annually in a dialogue between the boards and the department around decisions on minor capital replacement for equipment. In the previous year the board CEOs and the director of Financial Management Services met to determine the most pressing priorities. The money was allocated according to that forum. It was used to replace existing equipment. Thank you.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Just a followup question. Who does the inspections for the department? Is that self-inspected or is there another body from another jurisdiction who inspects the equipment?
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1064
Ramsden
Madam Chairperson, the department does not have the expertise inside of the department to do it. Most boards, with the exception of Stanton, who has part of that expertise on staff, most boards retain by contract, expertise from other jurisdictions. Typically, the Baffin uses staff out of McGill. There are arrangements in Alberta for some of the western boards, but each board retains a kind of inspection expertise. One of the benefits of multiboard discussions we had this year, is that there is some board sharing. They share resources on inspection to bring these people up to support
them. Thank you.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Do I understand then, there are standards set the boards would have to meet on an annual basis to have their equipment inspected and their operators of the equipment are, in fact, qualified?
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Ramsden
Yes, Madam Chairperson. There are standards in terms of the performance of the equipment and there are training standards around use of the equipment, as well.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Vince Steen Nunakput
Madam Chairperson, is there a training program in place whereby people from the territories could have training in this type of field? Is there such a program in place right now?
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Ramsden
Training around the testing and calibration of equipment is highly specialized. Certainly, if there were people interested in pursuing that kind of training, it would be available to northern residents. We have not, given the fact the amount of training needed versus the amount of use of this expertise, has not made it one of our first priorities in terms of developing or supporting the development of that resource inside the NWT. It would certainly be the kind of training that would be available to northern residents.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Are we talking about the same thing here? For instance, I am referring to where they have Nurses Training Programs. I am asking whether or not you have training programs specifically for people who handle x-ray equipment. In that field, would there be a course available under Arctic College?
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Ramsden
My apologies, Madam Chairperson. I thought we were talking about the repair, diagnostic or the testing of that equipment. There certainly is the ability for support programming. There already has been some preliminary work around setting up a radiology program. I do not have the specifics on where they are at in that discussion, but there has already been some preliminary discussion in that area. Thank you.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Vince Steen Nunakput
Madam Chairperson, I would have thought this would have been one of the programs where we would be encouraging people to enter. Judging by the number of facilities that have x-ray equipment, I presume there is one in every big centre. I would have thought the department would have been pushing this as much as they would push, for instance, nurses' training. Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065
Ramsden
Thank you, Madam Chairperson. It is an area of training that represents an opportunity. What we created as a first priority was to make sure the people who currently use imaging equipment are competent and trained in its use. There has always been somebody trained in each community to operate the equipment that is in that community. Often times it is not the nurse practitioner, it has been other staff in the health centre. I could not agree more that it is an opportunity. In terms of priorities we had focused first on the nursing program in this area because the employment opportunity is much broader than it is in radiology. There is no question. It is an excellent area for development. Thank you.
Committee Motion 21-13(5): To Establish Guidelines And Standards For The Operation Of All NWT Health Boards
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1065