|
Oral
Questions
May 6, 2009
Home
| In the House | Question
Period
MS
JONES:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker we learned
earlier today that one of four operating schedules for
surgery at the Janeway has been cancelled because of the
nursing shortage. This includes all of today’s
scheduled orthopaedic surgeries for children.
I ask
the minister, if he can confirm that is indeed the case
and if he can tell me how many children would have had
their surgeries cancelled today as a result of this
shortage.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: I
would not know exactly how many patients would have been
impacted as a result of scheduling changes but I will
undertake to find out the exact number and report to the
House tomorrow.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Mr.
Speaker, I am sure the minister knows that this is a
serious issue that causes stress for families and for
the children affected.
I ask
him, if he can indicate to us today how long the
orthopaedic surgeries at the Janeway will be cancelled
and how long it will take to have the original surgeries
rescheduled?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Periodically,
in many of our hospitals throughout Newfoundland and
Labrador unfortunately O.R. schedules are disrupted for
a variety of reasons, sometimes because of emergencies
that would have come through the emergency department
that had to bump another scheduled surgery out, it is
more elective potentially. So sometimes that changes the
scheduling patterns. Sometimes the availability of a
physician who is doing the surgery or the availability
of an anaesthetist may impact that. Sometimes the
availability of beds, to be able to accommodate the
patient after the surgery is over, sometimes becomes an
issue.
In terms of how that
impacts this particular case today and when those
individuals will be rescheduled, would be apart of the
rescheduling process within that particular program area
at the Janeway. Those individual patients as they have
been contacted today, or their families would have been,
in this case, contacted, they would have probably been
advised when those surgeries would be rescheduled.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
The information we
received indicated to us that the cancellations today
were directly due to the nursing shortage.
On April 8, 2008,
minister, you stated here in - this was your statement:
In recent days there has been some pressure in the
emergency department of our hospitals because of
increased activity. You also indicated at the time that
this was an isolated incident and not the norm.
I ask you today: In
light of the reports that are out there and the problems
that are being reviewed in the St. John’s emergency
rooms, do you still feel that this is an isolated
incident or is it more systemic in our system?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker, it is interesting how the member opposite
cherry picks certain words. If at any time in this House
I would have said something that would have happened in
an emergency department in this Province at any given
day of the week was an isolated example that would have
been a response to a very specific question.
One thing we all would
recognize, Mr. Speaker, we all would recognize that
emergency departments are very difficult to predict by
their very nature. We have no control over what
emergencies will happen. I cannot tell you today, I
cannot tell you at this moment whether there is going to
be a motor vehicle accident on the parkway in the next
ten minutes or not, but if there is, there is going to
be an emergency and there is going to be an ambulance
arriving at the Health Sciences Centre in all likelihood
and that the physicians and the nurses and other people
will have to respond to it. So at no time, Mr. Speaker,
would I have ever said, unless it was in response to a
very specific question, that emergency workloads,
emergency department workloads are always fluctuating, I
say, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I certainly would not
expect this minister to make any kind of predictions.
After all, he hardly knows what is going on at a minute
in time in his own department.
Mr. Speaker, it is no
secret that a year ago we raised in this House of
Assembly issues regarding the ER departments in St.
John’s hospitals when there were up to fourteen
patients on stretchers in the waiting rooms. At that
time, the minister said that he did not think it was a
serious problem.
I ask the minister today:
Have you since investigated the
problems around the ER in St. John’s hospitals, and do
you have a plan to address these concerns a year later?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker, there is an organization called Siemens, global
international, I think is their name or the title of the
company; they are in Eastern Health as we speak. They
started to do a piece of work on April 1. It is about a
six-month exercise that they will have concluded some
time in early September, and they are looking at total
workflow, patient flows in the emergency department, in
our ORs, and in our intensive care units.
Those areas tend to be
linked together because they tend to be the source of
some of the issues that we deal with in the OR, and they
tend to be the source of issues we deal with in the
emergency department, because they are interrelated.
That piece of work is ongoing, Mr. Speaker.
What we hope to achieve
from that is a better understanding of how we can
actually improve the efficient flow of patients as they
enter the emergency department, through that department,
if necessary, into ICU, where many of the critical
people will end up, as well as the operating room.
Those are the three areas
that we need to better understand patient flows. Then,
and only then, can we correct the problem.
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Mr.
Speaker, it was a year ago now, or longer, that the
government allocated the $1 million to do the acute care
study. We learn through the Estimates that this study is
not even due to be completed until the end of this
particular year.
I ask the minister: Why
is it taking so long, when you know what the seriousness
of this issue is? Why is it taking so long to get this
study completed?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker, we are not assessing the production of
hamburgers at McDonald’s. We are talking about acute
care services in the City of St. John’s, where we have
the Health Sciences Centre, where we have all our
provincial tertiary programs. We have the Waterford
Hospital, our provincial mental health hospital. We have
all of the programs and services at St. Clare’s. We
have all the programs and services at our rehab centre
out on Forest Road, again a provincial program. It is a
complex piece of work, Mr. Speaker.
We announced it in last
year’s Budget around this time. We immediately put
together a working group to identify an appropriate
consultant to do this, because this is a complicated
piece of work. We need to understand how health care
works. We need to understand the acute side of health
care, and we need to understand the interrelationship
between those three or four program areas we already
have in the city.
The organization is in
place now; the piece of work is under way. Agnew Peckham,
I think, is the name of the company involved, and they
have been given a direction to have this piece of work
done by the end of this year.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
According to the Canadian
Institute for Health Information, the average wait time
in an emergency room is approximately two hours in
Canada. Reports from patients in St. John’s hospitals
indicate that waiting periods are double and triple, and
even longer.
I ask the minister: Why
are the people of our Province being forced to accept
such excessive wait times, those that exceed the
national average?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: I
want to go back to the member’s previous question,
because when you talk about doing a massive study of
acute care, an emergency department is a piece of that
acute care evaluation. We want to make certain that the
plans that we lay down today - this is a comprehensive
piece of work - we are committed to doing the
redevelopment of acute care in St. John’s, but we want
to do it right. We want to understand not only what is
taking place today, but we need to understand what we
need to do to prepare for tomorrow, next year, five
years, ten years out. This is going to be a major
investment in acute care services in the City of St.
John’s to service not just the Northeast Avalon but
the entire Province in the case of our provincial
programs, and we want to do it right.
We need to understand
what has taken place, and that is what this review will
do for us. It will include, as I said earlier, an
evaluation of what has taken place in our emergency
departments.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I have to say to the
minister, it gets really tiresome when you hear
ministers stand up and commit to a program. This money
has sat on the books of the government for over a year.
There must be some reason why this study could not have
started back a year ago when the commitment of funds was
made.
I ask the minister today:
What has been the delay? Is the
delay in Eastern Health? Was the delay in getting a
consultant, or was it just the fact that you guys
dragged your feet on it in the Department of Health?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: This
is a unique day; the member opposite and I agree. I am
getting tired as well; tired of her questions, tired of
her suggestions that we are not taking any action as a
government, tired of her fear mongering when it comes to
the health care of the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, this is the
third time I will attempt to answer the question, so I
will ask her to pay attention this time so she will
understand the answer.
Very clearly, last year
around this time we passed the Budget in the House of
Assembly. That Budget allocated some money to do an
acute care study in the City of St. John’s. We then
engaged the process immediately to identify an
appropriate consultant. We identified two or three
groups of organizations who were capable of doing this
piece of work, because not everybody can handle this. We
need a certain amount of expertise, so we had to look
outside the Province for that expertise. We had a
committee in place, led by the chief of the emergency
department at the Health Sciences, a process in place to
identify an appropriate consultant. That piece of work
has been done and now we are embarking on that
evaluation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I say to the minister, I
am getting a little tired of his condescending attitude
too. If you don’t want to answer questions on health
care in this Province, I would suggest you take yourself
right out of the portfolio, Minister, because there are
a lot of questions to come, not just from me but from
the public as well.
Mr. Speaker, there has
been significant discussion regarding a woman’s case
in Clarenville who mistakenly received chemotherapy
medication. This morning we heard from an oncologist,
Dr. David Saltman, who stated he had previously sent a
letter to the minister warning that these systemic
errors could happen in smaller centres like Clarenville
and that changes should be made.
I ask you today,
Minister: Can you confirm
whether you received and reviewed this letter and what
action you took upon reading it?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Let
me just clarify a point, Mr. Speaker.
The member opposite would
suggest that an isolated incident in Clarenville is a
reflection of a systemic issue. As I said to the
reporters yesterday, Mr. Speaker, outside this House,
the situation we had in Clarenville is an isolated case
where an individual didn’t follow appropriate
protocols and we now know what ended up happening.
With respect to the
letter she is referring to, yes, we did receive a letter
from an individual who had some suggestions as to how
– it was a two or three page letter – we might make
some changes in the cancer care program in the Province.
An official with my department met with that individual
to further discuss some of the details. Follow-up
discussions are planned. He has made some suggestions
for improvements and I am always receptive to and look
forward to hearing from and meeting with people who have
suggestions for improvement. We will follow through with
a second meeting with that individual to better
understand the basis for his suggestions.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Obviously, another
situation where an important issue was raised, not just
by an individual but by an oncologist who works in the
system every day in this Province, raised with the
minister and not acted on.
Mr. Speaker, now that the
minister is aware of the problem, aware that it exists,
which he has been for some time, I ask him: What
are his plans to address the situation, and address the
issues that have been raised by this oncologist?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: The
member opposite may have a series of questions, and I am
sure she has to follow the sequence, but then she
ignores the answers.
Clearly, I indicated, Mr.
Speaker, I have had some correspondence from an
oncologist who provided some recommendations as to how
we might improve cancer care in the Province, and I
welcome those. I invite them, in fact.
Immediately then we had
an official from the department meet with the individual
to better understand the basis for the recommendation,
and follow-up discussions will be held because he has
made some significant recommendations as to how we may
make some improvements.
I would like to be able
to explore those with him personally, Mr. Speaker,
because we, too, are anxious to make sure that we are
aware of the kinds of things we need to do –
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
MR. WISEMAN: -
to improve the systems that we have in the Province and
this individual has made some very tangible suggestions
as to how we might make some suggestions to improve, and
I welcome the opportunity to sit down with him and have
that discussion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
I ask members for their
co-operation.
The hon. the Leader of
the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
It is disappointing that
the minister did not review the letter and act when he
received it, but I ask him
today if he would table a copy of the letter from the
oncologist, Dr. Saltman –
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
MS JONES: -
in the House of Assembly and
make it available to us?
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
I ask members for their
co-operation. Did the hon. minister hear the question
that was directed?
The hon. the Minister of
Health and Community Services.
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker –
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
Order, please!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker, I have acknowledged that I have received the
letter. In all fairness and out of respect to the
individual who wrote the letter, I have indicated that I
had officials from my department meet with them to have
this discussion. The intent is to have a follow-up
discussion that will include myself, and until I have
had an opportunity to have that discussion with him I
will respect his interest in the system, and out of
respect for him I am not prepared to table that letter
until I have had a chance to meet with him so I better
understand it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday we raised an
issue in the House of Assembly of some crab processors
refusing to buy product in the Province and issue bait
and ice, Mr. Speaker, as of last evening.
Mr. Speaker, I
ask the minister today –
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
Order, please!
MS JONES: -
if he has now been briefed on
this issue and if he can tell us the number of
processors who are shutting down in the Province and for
how long this shutdown will continue?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. TAYLOR: Five
months as Minister of Fisheries; $70,000 -
MR. HEDDERSON: Mr.
Speaker, I just –
MR. SPEAKER: I
ask the hon. member for his co-operation.
I ask the hon. member for
his co-operation.
The hon. the Minister of
Fisheries and Aquaculture.
MR. HEDDERSON: Mr.
Speaker, just in response to the question from the
Leader of the Opposition.
We have done a
phone-around as best we could under the circumstances
and we certainly have at least 20 per cent that are
still in business, still taking crab, and we fully
expect that with the number of enterprises that are on
the water right now - and we also found out that there
was a lot of icing that took place yesterday. We fully
expect that, certainly throughout this week and maybe
even into next week before any, I guess, full shutdown
would take place.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I
wonder if the minister can tell me how the harvesters
will be impacted. Are there enough plants going to
remain open that they will be able to buy the amount of
product that is going to be landed in the Province or
will we have a shutdown of some of these enterprises as
well?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. HEDDERSON: Mr.
Speaker, I am just getting some prompting from my
colleagues, and perhaps that answer is floating across
because it does depend on who is out there, the number
that is out there, how many pots are pulled. Really, it
is very difficult, I say to the Leader of the
Opposition, for me to quantify where they would be,
except that we fully anticipate activity over the next
week for sure.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
While the former RMS
minister may think he has all of the answers, we have
gotten a number of calls from harvesters in the Province
–
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh,
oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order
please!
I ask the hon. member to
my left, for the final time, for his co-operation during
Question Period.
The hon. the Leader of
the Opposition.
MS JONES: Sorry,
Mr. Speaker, I think I may have gotten his title wrong.
The former Minister of RMS, I think it was, is prompting
the new minister, trying to give him the answers over
there.
Mr. Speaker, we have been
contacted by harvesters that are concerned. They are
concerned that they may not have somewhere to sell their
product. Mr. Speaker, both the processors and the union
have expressed some frustration over the current price
setting panel and whether it is the best approach to
deal with their interests.
I ask the minister: Has
either side made representation to you to change the
price setting mechanism and, if so, does government have
any plans to entertain those proposals?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and
Employment.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MS SULLIVAN: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I have had representation
from one group, one group of stakeholders only at this
point in time. That request is under consideration right
now, but I stress again, it is only one group that has
made representation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Maybe
the minister can tell me if that suggestion is being
entertained, if there has been meetings organized around
it? Maybe she already answered it and I
missed the answer. If I did I do apologize.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and
Employment.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MS SULLIVAN: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
As I just announced in
the former answer, we certainly are giving consideration
to that request.
AN HON. MEMBER: You
just said that.
MS SULLIVAN: I
did.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
The crab fishery in area
3K opened on April 1 but unfortunately, due to intense
ice conditions around the Province many fishermen and
their crews have been unable to fish. I think we have
received something like 300 e-mails in our office
already in response to a request to the federal
government to extend the EI benefits for fishing
enterprises in the Province.
I ask the minister today:
Have you had any discussion
with the federal government around this issue and can
you expect there will be an EI extension for fishing
people in this Province?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. HEDDERSON: Mr.
Speaker, those e-mails have also came into myself and I
have responded to them and basically, as well, written
to the appropriate federal minister asking that their
concerns be addressed and that action as quickly as
possible be taken.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister of Tourism
and the Minister of Government Services recently made an
announcement about the Province’s planned
implementation of a new highway signage system known as
Tourist-Orientated Directional Signage, TODS model.
I ask the Minister of
Tourism, Culture and Recreation: What
groups did you consult with other than Hospitality
Newfoundland and Labrador in making the decision to
adopt this particular signage model?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I cannot give the
Opposition member an outlined list but there were
thirteen consultations held across the Province. They
were well attended and the stakeholders that came
forward brought forward their suggestions, and as a
result, we have decided to move ahead with this policy.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
We understand that
implementing the TODS model will require every highway
sign in this Province to be removed and replaced with a
standardized version.
I ask the minister: Were
tourism operators given an explanation of this new
signage policy prior to the government announcement of
it? Was there any - besides taking their input as you
say in a consultation session, were there any
distributions, literature, explanations to the public
before you announced your policy?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Certainly,
Mr. Speaker, there were discussions. It is hard to
ignore information when you go out and seek input. One
of the top issues raised by the travelling public and
the industry is signage being problematic. So
discussions were held. People are familiar with the TODS
system.
One thing that we do need
to be clear on though, Mr. Speaker, is that at this
particular point what we are addressing are the illegal
signs, those that are not compliant, those that have
been put up without permission this year. An advisory
committee has been set up. They will be discussing
further with the industry and stakeholders. As a result,
then, the plan will be made to move forward with the
full TODS implementation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
The minister informed the
public that all signs that were not compliant with
government policy, as I understand it, were to be
removed by June 9 and the remainder would have to be
removed within two years. I happened to read about this
on the Web site.
I
am wondering, has the department planned any
concentrated media announcements around this June 9
date? Because I believe not everybody in the
public who might be impacted by this are aware of it. I
am just wondering if you have any planned media blitz on
making that announcement widely known.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Yes,
Mr. Speaker, as was indicated earlier, the Minister of
Government Services and I did hold a news conference.
Public notices have been already produced and they will
be ongoing until June 8, I believe it is.
Mr. Speaker, our intent
is to give the operators who have these signs up the
opportunity to take them down and use them as they might
see fit. This is in no way punitive measures; this is a
system whereby we see more effective signage going along
our highways and a better service for the travelling
public, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
We know that some
business owners, of course, have put considerable
financial resources into their promotional signs.
I ask the minister: Will
those persons who are design compliant at the present
time under the current policy but they do not have a
permit - so design wise they are okay but they do not
have the actual permit - will they be permitted now,
before June 9 or at any time, to purchase the permit so
that they can at least get the two more years out of
what they have already invested in? So, if they are
design compliant, can they simply now get a permit so
that they at least get the benefit of two years with
those signs?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Mr.
Speaker, as has been indicated, we want to deal with
illegal and non-compliant signs. If there is someone in
that situation, I would certainly hope that we would be
able to work with them to arrive at a satisfactory
solution around that.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Many municipalities, in
addition to tourist operators and businesses, of course,
have put signs on highways in a lot of cases to help
divert tourists off the highways and into their
communities to take advantage of their businesses and so
on, and subsidize their businesses; one example being
Stephenville.
I understand the Town of
Stephenville invested some $60,000 or $70,000 to put
highway signs on to try to attract people off the
highway. What consultation has
there been with municipalities, I am wondering, and will
the municipalities who have that type of signage, what
is in the works for them in terms of complying? Will
they fit within this TODS program that will be the law
here shortly?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Mr.
Speaker, consultations would indicate that anybody who
wants to attend could be attending. Throughout our
consultations municipalities did attend; we sought their
input. The welcoming signs will still be permitted, I
indicate that.
Within the jurisdictions
of municipalities, they have their own by-laws and such
that they will abide by, but we would certainly hope,
and we are getting indications from some municipalities
that the direction that we are moving in is a very
positive one. In fact, the Federation of Municipalities
have come out and supported us in this initiative.
Therefore, we would hope that other municipalities would
fall in line with our proposal.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
My questions today have
to do with the adverse event that took place in
Clarenville hospital last week. Yesterday, the Minister
of Health and Community Services said, even before the
results of an investigation by Eastern Health had been
released, that the incorrect administering of treatment,
quote: speaks to the individual performance of an
individual and not a systemic issue.
Mr. Speaker, the best
practices in adverse event management indicate that
adverse events should not be blamed on human error.
Human error is a result of flaws in the system that
contributes to errors taking place.
Mr. Speaker, I ask the
minister: Given all that has happened in the health care
system, why does this government continue to refuse to
see that we have systemic problems?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker, we do have systemic issues, and I spoke to one
of them earlier today. I indicated that we had an
organization called Siemens - I forget the last part of
their title – that have been in Eastern Health since
April 1, looking at patient flow issues in our emergency
department, in our ORs, and in our ICU in that facility
because there is a systemic issue there. Within that
area there are some systemic issues that we need to get
to the root of.
When we find and
understand that there are some systems issues that are
not working well, we want to better understand, and that
is what we have done here. So we acknowledge as a health
system, Eastern Health acknowledges, and we are
acknowledging as a government, that in that particular
area there were some systemic issues that we do need to
address. It is not a matter of not acknowledging that we
have systemic issues. We do.
My answer the other day
to your question was with respect to a particular
incident that happened in Clarenville last week. There
was a human error made, and that is not a systemic
issue.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Mr.
Speaker, I have to ask the minister: If it was so
definite that it was a human error made, why is Eastern
Health bothering to do an investigation, since the
minister is so sure about that?
Dr. David Saltman, an
oncologist, has said, in reference to what happened in
Clarenville, that the administration of the wrong chemo
drug was an accident waiting to happen. Mr. Speaker, I
have stood in this hon. House in the past and asked this
government to commit to a full evaluation of our health
care system; not just part of the health care system, as
the minister has just referred to, but the full system.
In light of this most
recent event, and concerns of people like Dr. Salzman, I
will ask the minister again, Mr. Speaker: Will you put
in place an external review of our entire system?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr.
Speaker, I will answer once again.
The member opposite has
been asking this question for seven or eight months now
and I have indicated to her, and I will indicate again -
and if you keep asking for another six or eight months I
will keep indicating the same thing - when we have
systemic issues, when we have areas like I just
described a moment ago, where we know we have a problem,
then we want to examine what has taken place there. We
will start looking at the systems issues that we need to
improve upon, and when we find them we will make the
necessary changes, but to engage in a wholesale
evaluation of our entire health system, that is not
appropriate at this time, Mr. Speaker. However, we are
reaching a time, and I think all of us as
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians need to start engaging
in a discussion around the kind of health system that we
need to have.
Clearly, we have some
areas that we need to come to grips with in terms of how
we deliver services, where we deliver them, the human
resource challenges that we may have in the future. We
need to have that kind of dialogue as members of this
House, as members of society, people who are providing
services to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, but
to have a wholesale evaluation is not appropriate at
this time, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
time allotted for questions and answers has expired. |
