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Territory takes over medical travel

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The way medical travel services are delivered in Hay River is about to change.

Basically, the service is to no longer be delivered by a contractor when an existing contract ends, and it will be taken over by the territorial government.

In the Legislative Assembly on Feb. 21, Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson expressed concern about the current delivery of medical travel services, noting it is different than elsewhere in the territory for residents not covered by the GNWT's benefit plan.

"Basically, because the services are provided through a contract, the department has little control over delivery," Simpson said.

The MLA asked Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy what the department has done to remedy the situation.

Abernethy recalled that, back in September, he indicated the department was going to look into the issue and try to make improvements.

"Since that time, we have done some analysis on how it is done," he said. "The member is correct. It is the only place in the Northwest Territories where the service is provided by contract as opposed to being provided by the territorial health authority. As such, the contract is going to be expiring in March of this year. We are not going to be renewing the contract. We are going to be moving forward with creating a position in Hay River as part of the territorial health authority to provide consistent quality medical travel services in Hay River and the surrounding area."

Simpson said he appreciates the government is doing something, but wondered how he could assure constituents that the change will result in improved service delivery.

"Precisely why should we expect the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority to provide a better service than we are currently getting?" he asked.

Abernethy responded that one of the advantages of having the territorial authority do the work, as opposed to a contractor, is the government will be able to ensure the people providing the service will have the best training and be completely familiar with the processes and programs.

The minister also pointed out the new system will better accommodate holidays, sick days or training.

"Currently if that happens, we're not always guaranteed that the person who is going to be backfilling is trained," he said. "By being part of the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority, if one of our persons were to leave or go on holidays or be sick, we know we've got a group of competent, fully trained staff who can backfill on a minute's notice in Hay River."

Abernethy said the government will move as quickly as possible to staff the new position, but recognizes it may prove difficult to do.

"We've gone out for competitions before for lots of different jobs and not been successful on the first round, so we want to err on the side of caution here," he said. "What we're going to do is, for the first couple of months, we're going to work with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, who is going to identify a person who can help us during the transition phase while we're out recruiting so that there is no gap in service."

Abernethy said the new person will also be fully trained, which could take six months.