N.W.T. gov't creating team to cut health spending

The Northwest Territories government is adding a new team focused specifically on reigning in health-care spending.

Premier R.J. Simpson spoke to MLAs about the new Healthcare Sustainability Unit during a Wednesday briefing to the committee on social development.

Simpson said the unit, which will work under the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, will look for efficiencies in the health care, guided by the question: "What are core services?"

"If we're offering the Cadillac of services, maybe we don't offer the Cadillac of services anymore. Maybe we do the Ford Focus of services, but we do it much better," he said.

The new nine-person team will operate until 2028. It will be funded through Health Canada's Territorial Health Investment Fund. The team's yearly budget will be about $2 million, most of which will go toward salaries.

Health Minister Lesa Semmler told MLAs the initiative comes at a time when the Northwest Territories health system is facing "significant financial challenges."

The total health and social services deficit at the end of last year was $265 million. Another $93-million shortfall is expected this year, Health and Social Services deputy minister Jo-Anne Ceccetto said.

Issues with staff recruitment and retention, and increased costs for equipment, medical travel and staff housing, are factors in the shortfall. But new health programs and services have been added over the years, too.

Simpson said the new Healthcare Sustainability Unit will be especially looking at the newer offerings.

"If we have to take funds from one area that's 'nice to have' and add it to something that's necessary for health care, then this is how we are going to identify that," he said.

Many MLAs present during the briefing pressed the government on its recruitment and retention strategy, saying the two initiatives should be interconnected.

Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse urged the N.W.T. government to look for other efficiencies in the system before cutting any services, suggesting there might be "low-hanging fruit" that could save money without service cuts.

But Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya was glad the initiative focuses on the idea of core services, as opposed to looking at hospitals or doctors, she said.

"There's some of our communities that have no health centre," Yakeleya said.

She has received calls from constituents who had to travel to places like Hay River and Fort Providence, she said.

"It's on them to get their gas, to get their food, to get whatever they need to make sure their emergency is taken care of," Yakeleya said. "If you're going to take that into consideration, that's what's needed."

Simpson seized on Yakeleya's comment in his closing remarks, saying that the new unit is not here to "slash services," but create a "more functional, more sustainable" health-care system.

"Most of the services offered in the territory are essential, but not everyone has access to them, like we've just heard. I'd like a family doctor. It's been decades since I've had a family doctor, I come to Yellowknife to see the doctor," he said.

"The ultimate goal is to be able to offer those services across the territory where they are needed."