MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, earlier today the minister provided an update on government’s implementation of the Cameron inquiry recommendations, and as we have witnessed over the past few weeks, there were major gaps which repeated some of the problems that had been originally identified through the Cameron inquiry.

I ask the minister today: Why didn’t you and your department complete due diligence, as highlighted and recommended by Cameron on page 438 of her report, to ensure that these recommendations were being followed in a timely manner over the past twelve months?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker, let me begin my answer the same way I began my press conference earlier today, with an apology to the women and families of the people who suffered in the ER-PR.

Mr. Speaker, we provided an update today. Thirty-nine of sixty recommendations have been completed, or substantially completed. We invested $21.4 million in Budget 2009; $4.7 million of which, Mr. Speaker, was to upgrade lab equipment and facilities. That was on top of the $54 million that we invested in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 to purchase equipment, Mr. Speaker, like MRIs, CT scanners, and $10.9 million for twelve new digital mammography machines.

I am well aware, Mr. Speaker, of the comments of Madam Justice Cameron, I think it is at page 438 or 448 of the Cameron inquiry, as to my oversight role. It does not mean, Mr. Speaker, that I am going to be in the lab, however, conducting cyclosporine testing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, despite the update from the minister that many of these recommendations have been implemented, the fact remains that there is still not training being provided to those in the lab. Occurrence reports are still not being filed accurately and there had been no accreditation process or even an MOU signed until a few weeks ago.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister - because all three ministers in the past year in the Ministry of Health have indicated that these recommendations were a priority for them. Yet, why was it in the middle of another crisis in health care when we were learning about what was happening in our labs around cyclosporine, why was it only then that government and Eastern Health moved to sign an MOU on accreditation of those labs?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I reiterate, Mr. Speaker, that this is about the patients of this Province and providing quality health care.

Mr. Speaker, the accreditation process can be conducted by a number of different companies in this country, is my understanding, Accreditation Canada out of Ontario and a company called QMP-LS. There were discussions with these companies, Mr. Speaker. It is rather unfortunate that the Leader of the Opposition makes it sound to the public as if the accreditation process could be completed by now.

Mr. Speaker, the accreditation process was initially proposed to be done over a five-year period because labs have to have time to prepare in the accreditation process. This has been moved up, Mr. Speaker, to a three-year period, and it is my understanding that sixteen months to eighteen months, the labs can be accredited in the Eastern Health region. So, Mr. Speaker, what we have done, we are moving on these recommendations. Some of them, like continuing education and proficiency testing go on forever. So, again, it is rather - it is disingenuous, at a minimum, for the Leader of the Opposition to even suggest that all of these recommendations could be completed by now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No answer to the question. It was a year ago when the ministry of this government indicated that they would move immediately on these recommendations. A year later there was no MOU signed on accreditation and we have no explanation for it.

Mr. Speaker, another significant strain on our labs has been the resignation of those in key leadership positions. In fact, the minister stated only last week that University Health Network, which would be stepping forward to do the review, would also step forward to run the lab. Even the CEO Kaminski said that the University Health Network would also provide site supervision. However, the University Health Network has said unequivocally that those are roles that they will not provide.

So, I ask the minister: Who is currently providing the leadership roles in the labs in the absence of clinical chiefs?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I believe the Opposition does not seem to be concerned about the facts. On March 10, Mr. Speaker, there was a resignation of the clinical chief. On March 11, if I remember correctly, we had the two site chiefs tender their resignations, even though their positions were being eliminated. On March 12, Dr. Bob Bell, the CEO of University Health Network, gave an interview to CBC. That interview was played last week as if it had been given to him on Monday. Dr. Bell’s comments were superseded by conversations over the next few days as to the role of University Health Network. When CBC played the comments from Dr. Bell on Monday, my understanding was that he is in Kuwait.

So, essentially, Mr. Speaker, what happened is the comments of Dr. Bell that are being referred to by the Leader of the Opposition, are in fact comments that were made prior to the final decision as to how the University Health Network would be involved. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, and I have confirmed with Ms Kaminski, that University Health Network is supervising the labs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the recommendations as well in the Cameron report talked about a plan to recruit and retain pathologists in the Province. The minister indicated this morning that this particular recommendation has been completed.

I ask you, Minister, if you are prepared to table the recruitment and retention plan for pathologists in this Province to ensure that we will not have vacancies and we will not have further challenges with recruiting these human resources?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, recommendation 8 of the Cameron inquiry, or the Cameron report, deals with a report by a Dr. Mong as to the number of pathologists that should be required for this Province. He suggested a full complement of 34.4 pathologists. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that we currently have in the thirties, and that by August 2010 we will have thirty-four pathologists, thereby equalling the suggestion by Dr. Mong. The Flynn Report, prepared by Dr. Greg Flynn of QMP-LS on February 17, indicates that the labs at Eastern Health had twenty pathologists and that based on the workload they were currently producing, it could be - fifteen could suffice.

Mr. Speaker, we are well on our way to dealing with the recruitment of pathologists and retention of pathologists. I can go through all the numbers again that I went through yesterday and show how successful we are being in recruiting pathologists and doctors in general.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, we have now in place a labour market adjustment policy which allows us to utilize the kinds of measures that I referred to yesterday when it comes to the recruitment and retention of hard to fill positions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, one of the other issues identified was the lack of training of lab technologists. We have been asking for health professionals’ legislation for the past two sessions of the House. We have yet to see it tabled.

I ask the minister today: Why is this important piece of legislation being delayed, and will it be tabled in this session of the House?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is reference here to continuing medical education for lab technologists and technicians, Mr. Speaker, and it is my understanding that there are training courses offered staff.

Mr. Speaker, we have in recommendation 18, reference to the development of training programs for immunohisto chemistry technologists. To date, three or four technologists have attended the National Society for Histotechnology conference in the U.S., and the fourth will be registered to attend the 2010 conference.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise that the health professionals’ act - I assume that is the piece of legislation that the Leader of the Opposition is referring to - will be brought into this House in this session. So, I do not know, again, if the Leader of the Opposition – I guess she has not had a chance to read the recommendations, Mr. Speaker, but she is putting forward a picture that is not reflected in the notes that follow.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have recently learned of problems at the paediatric ICU where a lack of doctors is adding to the stress of physicians’ ability to provide effective services to patients. Efforts have been made, minister, for the past year to recruit a new doctor for this unit, however these efforts have been unsuccessful.

I ask you today: Is government prepared to commit to Atlantic parity for doctors and physicians in this Province in an effort to fill these particular voids like we see in the paediatric ICU?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, as part of the ongoing negotiations with the NLMA, Atlantic parity is obviously an issue for them. They put a proposal to us, which is indicated by the Minister of Finance yesterday, was in the range of at least $125 million and I think I have categorized it, given some of the add-ons, of being somewhere between $125 and $150 million. Today, it is my understanding that we have actually written back – I think the Minister of Finance has written back to the NLMA – asking them to confirm what has been reported in the media yesterday, and what was certainly the context and connotation of what they were saying yesterday during their press conference was that in fact the package that they are looking for from government is a package that, at the end of the fourth year, would be about $80 million.

So that letter has gone back to the NLMA and we are now waiting for a response from them and at that point we will continue on with negotiations. In those negotiations, the topic of Atlantic parity will certainly be discussed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yesterday in the House, I indicated to the minister, through Question Period, a lack of internal medicine specialists in places like Burin, Carbonear and Clarenville. Today, Mr. Speaker, we have learned as well that there is only an internal specialist in St. Anthony for part of the year and concerns are being expressed by both surgeons at that hospital with regard to retention and burnout of physicians that are on staff.

I ask the minister: Without addressing these recruitment and retention issues that are facing doctors through negotiating and through their collective agreement, how can services be protected for people in all these various areas of the Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am aware of the two doctors who the Leader of the Opposition refers to. Myself and the Premier met with them in St. Anthony. I subsequently offered them, Mr. Speaker, a different way to deal with the fee payment. They were not interested in the same.

Mr. Speaker, I indicated yesterday to the leader opposite that there are times when it becomes difficult to recruit, and we are having difficulty recruiting certain types of specialists, but, Mr. Speaker, we still have to get back to the point that we have the most physicians that we have ever had in this Province. We are recruiting more specialists than we are losing, and that we, in the last eighteen months, prior to September 9, had a net increase of fifty-three positions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, we currently have seventy-six residents in family medicine, psychiatry and other training programs who have accepted $25,000 per year bursaries in return for a one-year return service agreement.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. minister to finish his answer.

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I indicated yesterday, we are paying up to $36,000 non-pensionable bonuses for rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The great thing about numbers is you can spin them however you like, I say to the minister. We also know that we have a turnover rate of 100 physicians a year in this Province, and we have vacancies of 125 right now today. So I say to you, Minister, all is not well.

Yesterday, the Minister of Health and Community Services said he was going over a consultant’s review of air ambulance services in light of what many in Labrador have seen as an unacceptable slow response time for medivac services.

I ask the minister today if he can tell us who he tasked with the completion of this review, and what were the terms of reference used, and if he could table those in the House of Assembly?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker, as I indicated yesterday, I met with the affected families in Labrador on November 27, met with the councils, we, Mr. Speaker, retained a consultant - government did. The leader opposite should know who it is; he met with the councils in St. Anthony, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador City, Wabush, met with various groups. Mr. Speaker, we will release this report in due course and we will make a decision.

Mr. Speaker, what we have right now, as I indicated yesterday, are two air ambulances, one in St. John’s, which I understand has to be here as a result of the neonatal unit at the Janeway, and because St. John’s is a tertiary care centre, and we have one in St. Anthony. The question, Mr. Speaker, that has to be looked at: If there are two air ambulances in this Province, where should the second one be located? Should it be located in St. Anthony, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador West? If there was a third airplane, where would that be?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The question was very simple. I ask the minister again: Who is the consultant, and what were the terms of reference, and are you prepared to table them?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition stood up in this House in early December and presented a petition from 3,000 residents of Labrador asking to have the air ambulance moved to Labrador. The hon. Minister for Labrador Affairs addressed the inaccuracies in that petition and what we have heard is a continued call from the people of Labrador to have an air ambulance put in Labrador itself.

We are seriously considering, Mr. Speaker, all of the alternatives. The consultant has filed his report, and when a decision is made, the consultant’s report will be released to the public at the same time that the decision is made.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, the minister has no idea what is going on in his department because he refuses to give the information.

Mr. Speaker, let me say this to the minister. There was never anyone asking to move air ambulance services, it was always being asked to meet the needs in a gap in a service in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: A need that you consistently have failed to do.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A need that you have failed to meet, Mr. Speaker, which is why I ask today, because an explanation is required in the case of Labrador West and why four ambulance response times have resulted in probably what is a loss of life. I said to the minister yesterday: Where was plan B? The minister said: Plan B failed.

Well I ask the minister again today: Why was there no air ambulance available and ready to respond to an emergency at a moment’s notice wherever it was needed in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am looking at the petition dated December 15, 2009 which asked to have the petitioners humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to support and strengthen the provincial air ambulance program based in St. John’s and St. Anthony. What the petition said, Mr. Speaker: We, the undersigned residents of Labrador, call on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to establish a medivac response team and aircraft in Labrador. There is an overwhelming need to have a medivac stationed in Labrador to serve all of the people in Labrador and its communities. It said nothing about St. Anthony and St. John’s. You attempted to mislead this House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The people of this Province depend upon government to provide an air medivac service for them. We have had a number of incidents in this Province now where we have had failure to respond in an appropriate time. Those incidents have been brought to the minister’s attention, yet they have not been resolved.

I ask you again today, Minister: Tell me why there was no air medivac aircraft available in this Province to respond to emergencies on the day that it was required in Labrador West?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, I admitted yesterday that there were deficiencies in the process and the failure to respond. We are going to correct that. We will correct it forcefully and we will correct it, Mr. Speaker, very, very quickly I can assure you, but I say to the Leader of the Opposition, you may not like the answer.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, we understand that the air medivac aircraft based in St. John’s was actually down for the second week at the time that this emergency occurred.

I ask the minister: Why was there only one air medivac available for use in this Province, and why was the air medivac in St. John’s down without another aircraft there to replace her, ready to go in a moment’s notice?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The St. John’s plane was down - and we will deal with that in a very short period of time also, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, what happened was the individual in question went in the hospital around 3:00 o’clock, to the best of my knowledge. The request for an air ambulance was around 6:50. The air ambulance was down in St. John’s, Mr. Speaker, and we will correct that. Then, what happens is that a charter –

MS JONES: (Inaudible).

MR. KENNEDY: Can I finish my questions?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You will not like the answer. I am going to tell you; you will not like it.

Mr. Speaker, what will happen is at 8:00 o’clock it was decided to send a charter from St. John’s, there was time lost as a result of having to go back and get oxygen, Mr. Speaker. This plane was a slower plane than the King Air which is utilized and that added an extra hour. I have indicated, Mr. Speaker, that is unacceptable. I do not know what more that I can do, that we are concerned about the people of Labrador and all the residents of this Province, and we will do our best, Mr. Speaker, in the upcoming days to correct this situation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked the Minister of Labrador Affairs about a contract that was initially being looked at for 5 Wing Goose Bay, that, as we know, was awarded south of the border.

Mr. Speaker, the minister obviously had no details regarding that yesterday and I ask him again today - because this reflects a loss of nearly $15 million to the local economy of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. I ask the minister: Why has this contract gone south of the border and not to 5 Wing Goose Bay?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, when the Leader of the Opposition gets up and asks such questions, it certainly tells the people of the Province, it tells the people of Labrador, and it certainly tells the men and women that work at 5 Wing Goose Bay that you have no more knowledge about this file now than your predecessor did when Roger Grimes sat across the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker.

Let me say this on 5 Wing Goose Bay, Mr. Speaker, the future of 5 Wing Goose Bay is alive and well. I can tell you that we are still –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, let me say this to the hon. member: We are working with the federal government, we are working with the unions of defence employees on 5 Wing Goose Bay, and I can tell you, you have an ATIPP request, which your researcher requested, and I can tell you we have a list of all the meetings that we have had on Goose Bay. You were in Ottawa very recently; you never even once visited either one of the embassies to talk about 5 Wing Goose Bay. So what are you doing?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. HICKEY: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Yes, you talk about flying on a wing and a prayer, Mr. Speaker. You got it over there; I am telling you right now.

Well, Mr. Speaker, the minister said in the media this morning that as a minister he should not have to answer questions and no one should call him and ask him questions or his department but I know he only has three files in the Department of Labrador Affairs but one would think he would know something about one of those three. I wanted to inform the minister that three weeks ago there was a new ATIPP request sent to your department. So if you get home, get time to go through those three files, maybe you could respond to that minister and I will wait for the response.

I ask you today, Mr. Speaker, maybe the minister could stand and respond to that ATIPP request that he claims he did not have, which is on his desk in one of his three files.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, her researcher used to send me e-mails; she does not send them anymore. Also, Mr. Speaker, the request came in through ATIPP and the response will go back through ATIPP and she is just going to have to wait.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will look forward to seeing that, but unfortunately the minister in his radio interview this morning did not even know he had received the ATIPP request.

Mr. Speaker, my next question for the minister is this. We learned on – actually, that this contract was given to the U.S. on March 16. The minister was in the paper on Monday saying that he was still lobbying to get this contract. So I ask you, minister, either you were withholding the information from the public or you were just not being informed by the people and your colleagues in Ottawa, which is it minister? Are you in the loop or are you hiding information?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, we were not withholding anything, but I can tell you one thing, we were waiting for NATO to make the decision. NATO made the decision after we returned from Ottawa.

Let me say this, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we had a good trip and we had a successful discussion, both myself and the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, with the British Embassy, with the German Embassy and with the embassies in Ottawa.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. HICKEY: Let me tell you, they are still interested in Goose Bay, and as I said earlier, Goose Bay is alive and well, but no thanks to the work that you and your government ever did when you were in power.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Justice Margaret Cameron clearly recommended that government change legislation –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh! Oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS MICHAEL: - to allow patients complete access to all of their relevant information when things go wrong in the health care system.

Mr. Speaker, a year after the Cameron inquiry this government is dragging its feet on implementing this legislation. In this morning’s update that was given by the Minister of Health and Community Services he says that he wants to talk to other federal ministers about recommendations 33 to 35 which relate to disclosure.

Mr. Speaker, I would like the minister to explain to this House and to the public how bringing these recommendations to a meeting of health ministers in six months’ time is going to help put Cameron’s vital recommendations in place now for people who are waiting for these changes?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

What we indicated in the update was that recommendations were completed, substantially completed, or partially completed. To the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, recommendations 33 to 35 are particularly complicated. They were the subject – and I have read closely what Madam Justice Cameron had to say. I have also read the report on the task force on adverse events –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. KENNEDY: - and that I am aware of what Justice Cameron had to say about that.

One of the difficulties, I will say to the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, is that we have received correspondence from medical groups indicating that they have a concern that if this particular legislation were brought in that it would impact on patient safety. So when we have a doctors association telling us that this is an issue, we have to have further discussions with – and we may have to retain someone. There is a Dr. Picard, I think - or Ms Picard - referred to in Justice Cameron’s report. We may have to get an academic or a practitioner to look at this, because as Minister of Health –

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. minister to conclude his answer.

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My major concern has to be patient safety, and when I have the Canadian Medical Protective Association telling me that bringing this in could affect patient safety, I have to take that seriously.

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.

I, too, am concerned about patient safety and I am concerned about the fact that people are telling me that things still go wrong. They cannot find out why things have gone wrong with them in their care or in the care of somebody else in their family. The minister has six months between now and September to get the advice that he is talking about, to do consultations.

I would like to know: Why wouldn’t the minister, and why wouldn’t this government, take a leadership role and go to that meeting in September with a plan in place, with ideas in place and show that we are learning from what has happened here in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi for her suggestion. I guess I did not make myself clear, we certainly do intend to do that. We are not simply going to wait to go to the health ministers’ meeting. We are going to conduct further work. Any suggestions that the member opposite has, I am certainly willing to listen to. This Cameron report and the Cameron update have to be beyond politics. We are dealing with the lives of the patients of our Province. Anything that the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi can offer, I am certainly willing to listen to.

Mr. Speaker, we will take the steps that need to be taken and we will, Mr. Speaker, consult those who we have to consult with a view to bringing it to the national agenda. We are hosting the ministers’ meeting this year and I am hoping that there will be discussions of Cameron, because we are seeing it - it is not only Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, we are seeing incidents in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and elsewhere.

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.

Mr. Speaker, we have had people who have come to us telling us that they want answers when they ask questions about things that have happened to them or somebody in their family. What they say to us is that they do not get the truth. I have seen some documents that families have been given when there has been an investigation into something that has gone wrong. I have seen language that is language that you cannot really get at.

I ask the minister, especially because of his background as a lawyer: Can he come up with an answer – does he expect to find an answer that is going to be able to meet the needs of those who may cause something to go wrong and those who need to hear the truth, the people of the Province, the patients of our health care system?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, recommendations 33 to 35 deal with peer review and the Evidence Act. It is my recollection, Mr. Speaker, that recommendation 51 deals with disclosure and adverse events. I think that recommendation 51 outlines a number of things that should be told to the patient if there is an adverse event or something that can affect the health of the individual. These indicate, Mr. Speaker, the facts, what has happened and what needs to be taken. We did it with cyclosporin.

There is a disclosure policy that Eastern Health has on their Web site that outlines the steps a doctor must take. Mr. Speaker, again, if I remember correctly, I think – in one of the recommendations there is talks of an ethics consult in terms of how these matters should be dealt with, Mr. Speaker, in terms of informing patients of what is going on. That is recommendation 54.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!