Daryl Dolynny

Again, last year the committee recommended a move towards means testing for supplementary health benefits similar to what was found in other provinces with the expressed caveat that seniors be excluded from means testing.

Can the Minister indicate to the House why this was not done as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand it’s a daunting task, but I think in terms of no-show rates, I only need to lean in to make reference to my own personal dentist. I can tell you that I get no less than two or three reminders within 24 hours of my appointment, and I would feel very bad if I missed that appointment. I’m not sure if we’re doing that at the same level as we probably could be, as simple as notifying people of an appointment. To that, I’ll get a response, but I’d like to make reference to a great idea I heard from you, Madam Chair, that you brought into the House probably about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we are fully aware, we are in a full operation budget season and it’s important that we reflect on some of the high-level questions as to a department’s performance in responding to the needs of the people it serves. With that in mind, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services on our stewardship of the Supplementary Health Program.

If one looks at the budget and health service programs under Supplementary Health Programs, and knowing full well that the cost of drugs and medical devices are on the rise, the budget has remained virtually flat at...

I’m encouraged by what I’m hearing and I’m hoping that the Minister will notify Members and committee if and when we have that as a 24 hour service for our residents.

Statistics that were given to us last year indicated that the no-show rate for family physicians was a whopping 13.8 percent. That means 13.8 residents out of 100 were missing their family doctor visits. I see here speciality clinics are now a separate category, and with speciality clinics it usually goes hand in hand with a lot more expensive services. Do we know what our no-show rates are for our speciality clinics?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a territory, we struggle with mental illness every day, and although we see some great initiatives nationally on working together to create a stigma-free Canada, we are still failing.

While everyone in this room struggles to improve the quality of care while reducing the costs of our health care system, we seem to be missing the point. That is, the overwhelming evidence that access to mental health care in the NWT is poor.

Nationally, one in five people with depression get appropriate treatment, and we know this number is much higher in the North. Shockingly...

What would the budget be for that service?

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a relatively new section for committee. This is probably the first time committee has had a chance to digest the way it’s been categorized and some of the new, I guess, descriptions within this activity summary, so I’ll start off with this. To the department: What was the rationalization for doing it? What was the desired outcome? Then, in responding to that, maybe if I could get a breakdown in terms of physicians outside the NWT and specialty clinics, sorry, physicians outside the NWT and out-of-town hospitals. If I could get more of a descriptor than we have...

I will try not to sound blunt here. I’ve heard this song and dance before and so have many Members of the House. It’s not as if I am displeased, knowing we are striving and dealing with capacity issues and trying to find individuals and work on cross-departmental solutions. The fact remains is we’re still not able to provide that level of primary first-language service in a lot of our communities.

What I haven’t heard the Minister indicate is we are using technology. By technology, I mean just the simple fact of having an app with easy pictures, body parts where the pain is in conjunction with...

Yes, Madam Chair. I’m referring to the CIHI, which they have, again, 32 national base indicators which we are, from what I’m informed, we do participate with.

I do appreciate where the Minister is coming from. If he’s frustrated, I can tell you that you times that by 10 and I think you’ll see where Members are today here. We applaud the work in trying to make things more detailed and more simplistic to match parameters, but given the format of today, it is posed to be very problematic.

Last question. Last year the subject of oral health became of great debate and it was around the sunset of a federal funding initiative on children’s oral health care to the tune of $468,000. At that time, committee felt very strongly that oral health was an initiative...