How much would it cost to make the health care system in the Northwest Territories comparable to the systems in southern Canada? More than an extra $32 million, says Premier Caroline Cochrane.
Canada’s prime ministers met in Victoria this week for the Federation Council summit, and the strain on the country’s health systems was high on the agenda.
The premiers called on the federal government to increase the amount of provincial and territorial health care costs covered by Ottawa through the Canada Health Transfer from 22 per cent to 35 per cent, in a joint statement released Tuesday.
The Canada Health Transfer is the largest transfer payment the federal government makes to provinces and territories.
In the Northwest Territories, such an increase, as proposed by the premiers, would amount to an additional $32 million, Cochrane said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
“While this would help support our already strained health care system, it does not fully address the gaps that currently exist – additional investment from Canada will be required,” she said.
It’s difficult to determine exactly how much more money the NWT needs, especially amid the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, Cochrane said, but “we need more.”
Health and social services are regularly in short supply
The Ministry of Health is regularly in deficit, the Prime Minister said.
“I hate to say it, but I call a lot [Health and Social Services] the poor cousin, because other departments are trying hard to make sure they get into the budgets, but how do you say no to health care?” she said.
“As a cabinet, we all realize that even though they have a budget, it will be overstretched.
The territory estimates that more than $594 million – nearly 29 per cent of its budget – will be spent on health and social services this year. Nearly $54 million will be received through the Canada Health Transfer.
In their case for increasing federal health care transfers, the premiers are referring to the national level shortage of health personnela problem with which the Northwest Territories are all too familiar.
This summer, staff shortages forced the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Office to cutting lab and imaging services in Yellowknife and physician availability in Hay River. Health authorities also blamed staff shortages for suspension of maternity services at Stanton Territorial Hospital last winter.
Canada’s prime ministers answer questions from the media on the final day of the Federation Council summer meeting at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, on Tuesday. (Chad Ippolito/The Canadian Press)
Staff shortages drive up health care costs, MLA says
Lesa Semmler, MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes, has worked as a nurse and in other health roles in the NWT for 17 years. She said the ongoing shortage of health personnel is costing the territory even more money.
“We’re so understaffed that most of the staff are always working overtime … and that’s something that’s not budgeted for,” she said.
“In my past experience, you can’t predict overtime, so it’s always just an added expense.”
Cochrane said the territory has long struggled to recruit health care professionals, despite offering attractive salaries and benefits.
The pandemic made matters worse as southern jurisdictions increased wages and benefits to attract more health workers to their overburdened systems, reducing the NWT’s competitive position.
Cochrane said in response that the territorial government has pushed harder to recruit and retain medical staff and that that push is already paying off.
“Just in the last 30 days we’ve seen an increase in nurses coming into the Northwest Territories,” she said.
“It’s a start, but it’s something we’re going to have to focus heavily on, probably over the next few years.”
Zemmler said she hadn’t heard about the new nurses and asked if they were permanent or substitutes.
“Because we’ve had a lot of auxiliary nurses and it’s also an additional cost to the health care system: covering travel costs, per diems and all other costs related to the plane and short-term external nurses,” she said.
“We need to figure out a way to get more nurses, and for the long term, because the health of the people of the Northwest Territories will only improve when our health doctors live here and know the people.”
Semmler said the ongoing staff shortage is not the only pressure on the NWT’s health system. The Territory deals with numerous, extraordinary health care costs, from medical evacuations to medical travel, to out-of-Territory long-term care and addiction treatment.
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