Thank you, Madam Chair. I feel obligated to ask a couple questions about the $25 million in health spending, and I know the Department of Health and Social Services is just kind of a black hole we have to fund. I'm looking at the $8.4 million increase to standard physician contracts. Can the Minister just elaborate a little bit more of what we're increasing, how much more the doctors are getting paid to increase competitiveness. Thank you.
Debates of March 27th, 2023
This is page numbers 5875 - 5942 of the Hansard for the 19th Assembly, 2nd 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 indigenous.
Topics
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. So this was concluded as part of negotiation with the territorial medical association and resulted in some small retroactive amount, but also there's recruitment bonuses and there's an amount that is resulting from changes to the locum contract rates, and I'm certainly happy to provide some further breakdown of each of those. Well, $1.2 million to the contracts for physicians, standard physician contract rate, as well as $3.4 million just over in recruitment initiatives, and $3.1 million for locums, and then just over $700,000 is for retroactive amounts, again related to that contract. Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I actually don't know. Is there somewhere I can look publicly and see the pay scale for all doctors? Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe there is. I don't have a link offhand but we can provide that together with some of the other commitments we've made today. Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you. I also see that we're $633,000 more for chemotherapy drugs. Can someone just elaborate why we're incurring this cost? Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is a projected shortfall in the chemotherapy program that we have here at Stanton Hospital, and it's based on the actuals that we ran as of October and then extrapolated that to the end of this fiscal year. So based on where the program was at as of October 21st, it was expected that there would be this shortfall. The drug cost, I mean, it's two-fold. It's partly the cost of the drugs and also the amount of usage by clients, by patients. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th, 2023
Page 5902
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you. So, yeah, more people have cancer, and more people -- the drugs are more expensive. Can someone tell me what the total is for funding for chemotherapy drugs; how much the total is? Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you. Looking next at radiology services, I see that is costing us another $1.5 million. Can I just get another bit of an explanation on why we need another $1.5 million for radiology services. Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Radiology services are an item that is actually contracted out and provided by Beam Radiology which is based in Calgary. This is done through a competitive procurement process through the NTHSSA and that contract, as I understand it, has been renewed, and there are increases in over and above what was in the previous contract, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Thank you. Last one, $6.79 million for frontline nurses, including agency nurses. Can I just get a bit of a breakdown what this is, whether it's related to -- yeah, a breakdown of what this is getting us. Thank you.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Caroline Wawzonek Yellowknife South
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so that -- yes, that also is for anticipated shortfall at the NTHSSA. As noted, it was for frontline nurses. It is for agency nurse expenditures. So this is in situations where there's an ongoing shortage. Notwithstanding efforts for health care recruitment, there do continue to be a reliance and a necessity to bring up nurses to cover urgent positions. And with the nationwide shortage that's ongoing, again, as I said, notwithstanding some of the other efforts, some of which are reflected here in terms of other areas of supplementary appropriations, agency nurses are one way to ensure that there is a person in a position, and that has with -- with the situation of labour market shortages, there's been a reliance on agency nurses and not at a -- not enough money to fund that. So in order to keep those services available, that's what is driving the increase in these costs and expenses. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5902
Committee Motion 385-19(2): Concurrence Motion - Tabled Document 881-19(2): Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2022-2023, Carried
Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 27th
Page 5903
Rylund Johnson Yellowknife North
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just confirm then that the entirety of this $6.79 million is agency nurse contracts that it -- I guess, it doesn't include overtime or other -- you know, the labour markets bonus we gave -- I forget what it's called. You know, there's a lot of increased nursing costs but is this the totality of this just that we're bringing up more and more agency nurses? Thank you.