Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night I had an opportunity, along with my fellow MLAs, to attend a presentation and discussion with four doctors as representatives of the NWT Medical Association on the issue of regionalization of health care in the north.
The doctors presented a written brief followed by a two and a half hour discussion. As was pointed out, there are advantages to regionalization but there are also tremendous disadvantages like fragmentation of fiscal and human resources and discrepancies in access to health care. The strong message last night was the NWT Medical Association has become increasingly concerned with the changes being made in the delivery of health care by the regional boards and the potential for destabilizing of the health care system.
Dr. David Butcher, president, said the most important resource of the system are the people working in it. It was stated that it has been the health care workers who have kept the system going. The health care workers are not being adequately supported in many cases by the boards.
Dr. Butcher spoke about the fact that economics is driving the system. He stressed the most important point was the quality of health care. He said there must be territory-wide standards and the need for leadership by the department in this area. Otherwise each health board goes in its own direction. He made reference to breast cancer as an example. Now each board sets standards and chooses what services to deliver, how to deliver it and who can do what in a region. He suggested what we needed to do is to ensure a plan is in place for appropriate training in clinics and hospitals with adequate supply of staff. All institutions should be credentialized. Following that, all individuals should be credentialized.
Dr. Butcher said we are placing undue expectations on boards. They do not have a governance process in place. They do not have the critical mass of well-trained people. It was not the message of confidence in our system, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
--Applause