Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Ballantyne has certainly pushed all of the right buttons for me. The track record is very much something that you need to back up. Speaking for myself, I would certainly like to endorse the plans the department might bring forward to say that when they do have a proven and a good relationship with an organization, I would be among the first to endorse a multi-year agreement and continue that support through subsequent budget years. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This question is more in regard to monitoring and evaluation at the regions and community level responsibility, especially when it comes to collecting data and information. In the riding I represent, there has been a real increase in the number of cases of cancer and this latest case of tuberculosis.

They talk about a registry that is in place that is looking at diseases that are deemed to be of special importance. I am just wondering, how often is this information catalogued? Is there a public report that tells us the different circumstances if there is an increase in a specific area or a decrease? Is this information published?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Another area I would like some information on is do you, as part of the data collecting, evaluate where the diagnosis took place? Which hospital, by whom and what the diagnosis was?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. The answer to that question is yes, it is tracked by where the diagnosis is made. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As part of this tracking information, do you track the patient's visits, or frequency of where she came from, or how she got from one hospital to another hospital? I will use an example. In the case of Inuvik where several patients have been at the Inuvik Hospital, they were tested and took x-rays and what not. Only after they were either medevaced to Yellowknife or sent to Yellowknife, they are diagnosed in Yellowknife. Yet they were at a prior facility that this government is responsible for, yet the diagnosis was made somewhere and the patient is from a whole different region. Do you collect that type of data or information to evaluate exactly how the detection was done, by whom it was done and how long it took to detect that particular subject matter?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in answer to the first part of Mr. Krutko's question, if a patient were from a certain community or region and they were diagnosed in a different community or if they were diagnosed down south, the recording and reporting of that particular disease would still indicate where they originated from. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that could be the fault of us being able to monitor and also follow, by looking at the overall health care system, to see exactly if we are detecting these different diseases at the source or are we detecting it well after the fact? Time is a factor with a lot of these diseases. The sooner you catch it, the better off you are at preventing death. I am wondering if that could be a possible scenario that this government or this department puts in place, that you start monitoring the medical history of these patients.

Currently, they have gone to the different clinics or to the different regional health centres and then later on been diagnosed with a major illness. I am just wondering, is that something the department could look at implementing as part of the evaluation of the different services that are being provided? I have a real problem with that because of the different situations that have happened to date.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two parts to the answer. One of the contributing factors, positive factors to early diagnosis is creating awareness for our constituents so they do take advantage of periodic checkups, annual tests where they would be indicated, just being aware of the kinds of things they can notice themselves and then follow up on. Mr. Chairman, if there are concerns about the diagnosis or the treatment a patient is receiving, there are means of taking those concerns to...I do not know who you take complaints to.

Mr. Chairman, as to where people could take complaints or concerns if they have questions about the care that they received, I am going to ask Ms. Ballantyne to elaborate on some of the avenues that a patient could take if they have those kinds of concerns.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With regard to the regions and communities, they are basically evaluated by the board regarding the monitoring and evaluation, the health and social services trends and then the effectiveness of programs and services. Who does the evaluation of the health boards themselves? Is it the department? How often do you do it? Is there a report that is filed every year on the evaluation of the boards?