Yes. I have mentioned that the doctor's role is essential to the implementation of the Medical Travel Policy. However, doctors have a role as advocates for their patients, and sometimes make recommendations for non-medical escorts that do not align with the criteria in the policy and would lead to significant inconsistencies in the benefits provided to one patient over another.

The role of the medical travel office is to ensure that the Medical Travel Policy is being administered consistently and as intended by the policy. When a clinician makes a recommendation for a non-medical escort, the reason for the escort is written on the form and often accompanied by a letter providing further explanation. I have full confidence in the medical travel office's ability to determine if the reason aligns with the criteria that is listed in the policy. When medical travel staff deny coverage for non-medical escort benefits, there is often a follow-up communication between the clinician and the medical travel staff to confirm the escort decision. There are also an exceptions policy and appeals policy to consider unique circumstances and to ensure the policy is being applied as intended.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question. This is often a misunderstood issue, and it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the role of the clinicians in the administration of medical travel benefits. While our clinicians have an integral role with respect to medical travel, such as making a valid medical referral for the patient and making a recommendation for the escorts, medical travel assistance is a benefit program offered by our government and administered by our medical travel staff. The Medical Travel Policy does not give our clinicians full authority over escort decisions. The criteria for non-medical escorts are stated in the policy, and recommendations for an escort must be aligned with the criteria of the policy.

In June 2019, the Minister of Health and Social Services issued a directive formalizing the delegation of the implementation and administration of medical travel policies, excluding the appeals policy, to the NTSSA by the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services. The directive states that the NTSSA, through the medical travel office, coordinates the medical travel program for all of the Northwest Territories, including Hay River and the Tlicho. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department will use the information to develop programming that will put in place support for older adults in Yellowknife, and that includes transportation. We are in the early stages of designing the program, and we are working with the steering committee to complete it by the end of March 2020. The health authority will go through an expression of interest process to find an organization to deliver programming, and we are aiming to have this completed in early April so that we can start to begin the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this time, I don't know the data on the limitations, but it is something we can look into and get back to the Member.

We did not ask individuals whether they had cognitive limitation, so we do not have that data. The age group set up for the survey allowed us to capture information for individuals 75 to 85 years old and 85-plus years of age. Forty-five individuals 75 years and older responded to the survey; that was 10 percent of the survey respondents. Forty people were 75 to 84 years of age, and eight people were 85 years and older.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The results indicated that older adults in Yellowknife are active and want to remain physically and socially active. All the age groups identified transportation, affordability of activities, and a lack of information about social activities as a barrier to social engagement. By far, the biggest concern was transportation: city bus not being available when activities are scheduled, routines are not close enough to home, and numerous challenges with the Yellowknife Accessible Transit Services. In addition, those 75 years and older identified lack of accessibility within buildings and lack of supports in physical and mental health needs as barriers to social engagement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Absolutely. That is my intent, and the Member has brought it up in the House several times, and also made it her commitment, and that is something that I will commit to looking into. Thank you.

I have attended the provincial-federal-territorial status of women, and in the meetings, we talked about having commitment to look forward, going through the review.