N.W.T. premier supports minister amid criticisms of territory's health care

The premier of the Northwest Territories is re-affirming support for his health minister after a group of three MLAs accused Minister Lesa Semmler of not taking her role seriously and threatened to oust her from the job. 

In a news release Thursday, MLAs Kieron Testart, Robert Hawkins and Richard Edjericon shared a list of actions they want to see taken to improve health care, including negotiating licence-sharing with Nunavut and Alberta to speed physicians' ability to enter the N.W.T.'s system, releasing details of new locum contracts for emergency departments and implementing minimum staff-to-patient ratios at N.W.T. hospitals. 

Northwest Territories doctors have been vocal in recent weeks about staffing challenges so severe they're not sure how Stanton Territorial Hospital's emergency room will stay staffed.

"If the Minister of Health and Social Services is unwilling to make these changes, then we are willing to change the Minister," Testart is quoted as saying in the release. 

Premier R.J. Simpson sent out his own news release Thursday saying Semmler has his full confidence to address the challenges in the territory's health-care system. 

"As an Indigenous Northerner, a former health-care provider, and someone with years of experience in health system management, she brings a deep, personal understanding of the issues facing both our dedicated staff and the system as a whole," Simpson writes. 

In an interview Friday, Hawkins said MLAs keep bringing ideas to the table and they keep getting shot down.

He said he thinks the recruitment process for health-care workers like nurses is great, but retention is another story.

He added any movement on the MLAs' suggestions at all would be a sign to him that the government is listening.

"I don't have an issue with [Semmler] being in cabinet. Again, I can't stress enough, it's not a personal issue for any of us — it's about results," he said.

Health-care officials, including Semmler and the health authority's public administrator Dan Florizone, have said closing the ER is not an option and that they are working to recruit more physicians and employing "different strategies" to fill empty shifts. One of those strategies includes asking doctors to work 12-hour shifts, Florizone said. 

"We would call upon people to do what they need to do," he said. 

The Northwest Territories Medical Association said its members are glad to see progress in recruitment, but there remains a staffing crisis at Stanton's emergency room. In a third health-care related news release on Thursday, the association said announcing plans on how to staff remaining shifts is particularly important given the current measles exposures in Yellowknife. 

"There are still multiple days in May where levels are inadequate to run the ER safely. Time is getting short, and contingency plans have not been announced," the association wrote. 

It added despite the territory's recent efforts, no new physicians are being added to Stanton's emergency department.

The association also said that attributing staffing gaps to vacation and parental leave is inappropriate. 

"Staffing levels should take anticipated leave needs into account. This is a planning issue."

For longer term solutions, the association said it welcomes the recently announced raise to locum rates, but couldn't comment on whether it's adequate since the specifics haven't been made public. The medical association also stressed the importance of extending similar compensation to contract physicians in the territory. 

"They are the ones around whom the present and future of our health system depends," the association said.

Simpson said the shortages facing the N.W.T.'s health-care system are shared across the country but that his government is focused on supporting health-care workers and quality care for residents. 

"Through unity, co-operation, and a shared commitment to serving the public, we will continue delivering meaningful progress for the people and communities of the Northwest Territories," Simpson said.