Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I know the Minister herself has been a big champion of the Office of Client Experience. And yesterday in her response to oral questions from the Member for Great Slave, the Minister noted she had personally met with the Indigenous patient advocates and heard about many of the same concerns that we talk about often in this House. I'm interested in how the documentation of those concerns actually leads to action.
So can the Minister explain what is the process for how the concerns being documented by the Office of Client Experience are supposed to lead to action at a systemic level by the health authorities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, and I appreciate these questions because one of the things as, like the Member has said, I do support the work that the Office of Client Experience do and the patient advocates. I'm a champion for the work that they do. But we didn't have any actual data on the things that were being brought forward, especially when it came to Indigenous people. We've heard it multiple. We all can stand up in here and say we know that some of these issues. However, like, I'll use, for instance, medical travel. Medical travel, anybody -- I've travelled to most communities. That is one of the biggest issues. It's the understanding of the program, though. It is not a -- you know, and I'm not saying that there is -- there is a problem, but the problem lies within the policy that because it's not an insured service, we use different policy and we use non-insured services to move people around. The escort piece is the biggest piece that we have the most contention with, is the non-medical escorts that have to travel with people. That is something that has to be approved through NIHB, through Ottawa. And we don't have -- like, if it doesn't meet the standard criteria on the policy, all of those have to go to Ottawa. So this is a -- this is also data that's driving us to be able to bring that to NIHB and sit down and say this is our most contention; this policy is not, you know, working for the Northwest Territories and our small and remote communities where we still speak a lot of Indigenous languages, and so we need to do better. So the work that this does is helping us fight that fight. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I appreciate that, but I also understand that many of the concerns being raised are not exclusively related to federal policy or NIHB, including feedback received through the patient experience questionnaire.
Can the Minister explain what is the process for publicly reporting and taking action on the feedback received through the patient experience questionnaire, both this year's and previous years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that the patient experience questionnaire, somebody who's worked in the system for many, many years, that this happens every two to three years. So the questionnaire goes out, and it's through the quality program, and it goes out to anyone on their experience or current experience with the healthcare system. What it does is it comes back and then there's a report -- it is usually public. I think the last one was done in 2022. And what that report -- what it helps to do is work with those areas with the executive team and to work within those areas to try and improve those areas. And so that's generally how it goes. And it also helps us to build that for business plans. Like, if the -- NTHSSA is coming forward because there's something that we're lacking, then that evidence, also those questionnaires, the data from the public can help generate some of that work. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll just note I was looking online for a report from any previous patient experience questionnaires and couldn't find any. So if the Minister can direct us to that, that would be great.
I was also looking in annual reports of the health authority, and the last time that there was detailed statistical reporting on performance measures, including patient satisfaction, was 2019 and 2020. Will the minister direct the health authority to resume detailed reporting on patient satisfaction and patient outcomes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I will do is I will have a conversation with NTHSSA as to what has happened and what has changed, and I can report back to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Mackenzie Delta.
