Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I understand that one of the remedies to offer people who don't want to be part of the electronic medical records is, in fact, to offer them masking where information is concealed. I'm not exactly sure what the right word is, but it's protected, I guess, from certain users in the system; and that the current system is called a legacy system, so it is not that easy to find this fix of masking information on it. Can the Minister elaborate on that point, please?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I know there are going to be people who are disappointed to hear that. The needs for homecare are needs I hear often from my constituents. I have a lot of elderly people in my constituency, and what they ask me is: how have homecare services improved and how will they improve? So what does the Minister suggest I say in response to those questions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will just finish this section with a comment, and the comment is that I recognize that there is a difference between the department and the authority, and that the two are defining their roles and their relationship to one another. When it comes to this business plan, we only have the opportunity to talk to and have accountability with the department, so there is a missing link here with accountability with the authority. There needs to be some consideration given about how we as Regular Members provide oversight of the authority as the largest entity funded...

Thank you. I'm looking forward to more detail on that. Now, I have a couple of questions on homecare services. We have been told that there is a homecare study that's been undertaken. Could the Minister please update us on the progress of that study? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. One of the takeaways from the 2017 investigation by the Information and Privacy Commissioner into the privacy breach at the Inuvik Hospital is that it was almost certainly avoidable if the recommendations from the 2012 investigation had been acted on. In an effort to ensure there is action on the problem this time, I am looking for information on the implementation of the 2017 recommendations. My question is: who is in charge of privacy issues at the Inuvik Hospital, and who does that person...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, privacy is a fundamental individual right that is under constant threat in this digital era. A reminder of the importance of privacy and the diligence required for government to safeguard the information it collects comes from a recent NWT Information and Privacy Commissioner ruling.

In 2015, a patient at the Inuvik Hospital complained to the CEO of an unwelcome visit from one of the medical clerks who worked there. This complaint touched off a round of investigations that revealed there was "a culture of inappropriately accessing patient information" within the...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker; and thank you to the Minister for that. So, when the Minister says "the wish of the committee," is he looking for direction in a letter from the Standing Committee on Social Development, for example? Thank you.

I appreciate that commitment by the Minister. I would ask him to include Tlicho Community Services Agency and the Hay River Health Authority, as well. I am wondering about the audits of usage of the electronic medical records system. Is there a regular audit procedure in place?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Health Minister has demonstrated that he has, let's say, a heightened understanding of the importance of privacy and that is reflected in Inuvik and elsewhere. Can he tell us with respect to the privacy breach in Hay River whether the same safeguards are in place there? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for his response. I would like to ask: specifically at the Inuvik Hospital, the breakdown was that privacy wasn't anyone's job, so I am going to repeat my question: who is in charge of privacy at the hospital, and who does that person report to? Thank you.