Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to point out that the Minister of Health and Social Services filed away my healthcare services issues letter and notified the House yesterday of such. I am disappointed to say the least, specifically disappointment to the residents of the Northwest Territories that no actions will be taken to address health centre concerns. I did receive a copy of that letter dated June 1st after answering my question about the healthcare services in my community of Fort Providence. Those questions were raised on February 28, 2020, related to my Member's statement of the same concern.
Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement at the time was a concern that patients were being misdiagnosed for their ailments. There had to have been a level of misdiagnosis. The patients kept going back to the health centre three, four, and even five times for the same ailment. Each time, they were given a pill and sent home. Only when their condition was at a critical stage, then the medevac crew was summoned. I know of one instance where a patient never came home alive. God bless her soul.
My question raised at the time was: does the department conduct investigations into complaints made against health centre staff? The reply from the Minister was, "Absolutely, we do." During a recent Committee of the Whole session with Health and Social Services, I stated the same issues and the fact that a former complaint was made to the Registered Nurses Association of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. I should note, the complaint at the time was copied to the Health and Social Services chief executive officer. The CEO had requested a copy. This was back in November 2019, and to date, nothing has come of it. Health and Social Services does have a copy of all of the complaints. The only ones they do not have are all the other complaints sent through RNANT/NU and to the chair of the health leadership council. It was at this forum, at Committee of the Whole, that we understood that Health and Social Services was detached from RNANT/NU, so there is no mechanism in place to follow up on complaints made to anyone. I believe this is a very serious problem within the department and needs to be addressed. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker