Mr. Speaker, your Standing Committee on Government Operations held its public review of the Report of the Auditor General on Northwest Territories Health Programs and Services – 2011, Department of Health and Social Services, and commends it to the House.
The Standing Committee on Government Operations held its public review of the Report of the Auditor General on Northwest Territories Health Programs and Services – 2011, Department of Health and Social Services, on April 19 and 20, 2011. The committee thanks the Auditor General, Ms. Sheila Fraser, and her staff for their work in preparing the report and in assisting the committee with its review. The committee also thanks the deputy minister of Health and Social Services and her staff for their participation.
General Comments
The committee’s mandate includes reviewing reports of the Auditor General of Canada and making recommendations to the Government of the Northwest Territories. The committee wants to ensure that the Government of the Northwest Territories demonstrates its accountability to the public.
The Auditor General’s work for this report, Northwest Territories Health Programs and Services – 2011, was substantially completed by September 30, 2010. It was tabled on March 1, 2011, during the Fifth Session of the 16th Legislative Assembly.
The committee is pleased to report that the Auditor General found that the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) is managing the health system adequately and setting clear direction for the future. However, new technology, rising costs, and national shortages of professional staff are driving systemic changes in the health system. The Auditor General found that the department’s ability to achieve its priorities is limited by the absence of system-wide performance indicators, the lack of performance agreements with health authorities, and the fact that there is no service agreement with the Department of Human Resources, which has a key role in recruiting health professionals. The lack of performance indicators and agreements also
hampers reporting on the performance of the health system to both the public and the Legislative Assembly. This must change.
The Auditor General’s review team focused on programs and services for diabetes, home care, long-term care, medical travel, and recruitment of professional staff. Social services were not reviewed. Authorities were not officially included, but three were visited and consulted in the context of the departmental review. Although the review did not and could not reasonably be expected to cover the entire health system, the committee is satisfied that the review was very thorough, reliable, and fair. Despite the limitations noted above, the review sheds considerable light on the state of our health system, particularly the department’s ability to assess its effectiveness and plan accordingly.
The Auditor General made seven major recommendations to improve the administration and effectiveness of the NWT health system. All were accepted by the Department of Health and Social Services, and where relevant, by the Department of Human Resources, as well. The committee is pleased that the departments intend to implement the prescribed changes. The government should have a plan and timeline for doing so, and provide them to both Members of the Legislative Assembly and the public.
Recommendation 1
The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a plan for implementing all the Auditor General’s recommendations on health programs and services, and provide it to Members of the Legislative Assembly and the public.
The implementation plan should include a timeline and quarterly progress updates to the Standing Committee on Social Programs, beginning in June 2011.
Mr. Speaker, I turn the reading of the report over to my deputy chair, Mr. Robert Hawkins. Mahsi.