Multiple MLAs are slamming Health and Social Services Minister Lesa Semmler's leadership given the current state of healthcare in the NWT.
Although the NWT Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA) is telling residents to rest assured that Stanton Territorial Hospital's emergency department will not close 鈥� even with an expected reduction of services for the month of May 鈥� the NWT Medical Association and its president, Dr. Courtney Howard, have already stated they have no idea how that department will stay open in May.
Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart spoke to 快盈v3 on Thursday. He said he believes in blaming problems, not people.
But when the problem is leadership in the NWT's health system, what are people to do, he asked rhetorically.
"We need new leadership at Stanton, quite frankly, new leadership at the (NTHSSA), and we need a minister who's going to deliver that. And if the minister's unwilling to, then we might need a new minister," said Testart.
He, like a number of other MLAs, is by no means surprised about this current situation. They say that's a major reason why it's so frustrating for each of them. Based on what he's heard, Testart said health-care workers do not feel like they have a voice right now.
"It should be the minister's job to ensure their voice is heard," he said. "And what I hear, again, consistently is that there's a failure of leadership. People do not have confidence in the management of our system, and they are leaving in droves."
Testart also said part of his job as an MLA is to hold cabinet to account. He added 快盈v3ers are sick of this situation and see their health-care system getting worse every day.
"They're asking us to do something about it," said Testart. "Question period and members' statements aren't enough. We need to make sure the minister understands what is at stake and sometimes that has to be a minister's job."
Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins also said Semmler isn't taking the situation seriously enough, while also including both Premier R.J. Simpson and Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek in that.
"This is a failure that they've had over a year to get on top of," he said. "What other travesty are we going to need for them to say, 'Stop everything and focus on how the structure of the hospital and the health-care system are collapsing around us?'" Hawkins asked rhetorically.
Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan told 快盈v3 that these crises have been ongoing for a while, making the whole situation frustrating for her.
"This is not a new thing, it's not a surprise, but yet we keep reacting very late when crises balloon and become emergencies," said Morgan. "We have to get ahead of these problems and be able to plan better."
Morgan noted that last summer, Stanton鈥檚 emergency department struggled with staffing as well.
"They barely scraped through without closing it down," she said.
One reason the territorial government has been struggling with staffing has to do with pay. That's something Howard has noted and, to the GNWT's credit, it announced an increase to locum physician rates starting in June.
If the emergency room at Stanton is without physicians 鈥� as is currently the case for the Hay River Regional Health Centre, which has no on-site physician coverage in either the emergency room or outpatient department 鈥� is it enough to declare a state of emergency? Morgan said she does not know.
She did, however, say she believes NTHSSA when it says it will do all in its power to keep the emergency room open. Because if it closed, it would cause such "extreme problems."
"I don't know the details of what warrants a state of emergency or not," she said.
Morgan was also cautious not to accuse anyone of failing to lead when asked whether this situation indicates Health Minister Lesa Semmler is failing in her role. However, she did note that she thinks there are more solutions held by front-line staff that the GNWT could implement faster.
"Our system of making decisions and changes is still not keeping up with the urgency of the need that we're facing in terms of staffing retention and recruitment," she said. "Everyone acknowledges that it's a problem."
But not every MLA feels this way.
Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse told 快盈v3 on May 2 he talks to Semmler frequently about her progress on addressing problems in the NWT's healthcare system, adding that he's confident she is taking the situation seriously.
"While I am frustrated, I鈥檓 not fully confident that changing out the minister would result in changes proceeding faster than they are now," Morse added. "Rather, we might inadvertently slow things down while a new minister gets their feet under them."
Morse also noted that Semmler already disbanded the health authority's governing council and replaced them with a public administrator, Dan Florizone. Florizone comes from Saskatchewan and is a former senior executive of multiple health regions.
"Operations of the system are his responsibility, and I expect her to hold him accountable for that," said Morse.
Morse also said he has contacted the both Simpson and Wawzonek to note he feels they need to be involved in supporting this file as well.
快盈v3 has reached out for an interview with Semmler. Cabinet's press secretary said the request would need to go to NTHSSA instead. After doing so, NTHSSA told 快盈v3 to contact cabinet's press secretary. Either way, both parties are aware of the request and have provided no update as to whether Semmler will accept an interview.
