Question Period- H. Theriault M.L.A.

From Saveournurse blog:

Here is a transcript from Hansard taken from yesterday’s (Nov 4) question period

HEALTH – CARE: DIGBY AREA – SHORTAGES EXPLAIN

MR. HAROLD THERIAULT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Yesterday it was announced that the emergency department at Digby General Hospital will be closed every Monday and Wednesday in November because of a doctor shortage. Health care access in Digby has already been compromised as a result of the firing of a very capable nurse practitioner that we have to deal with. Now we have to deal with ER closures on top of this. My question to our Premier is, why isn’t this government providing accessible health care to the people of Digby, Digby Neck and Islands?

THE PREMIER: I want to thank the member opposite for the question. I know that the situation that his constituents face is not the best circumstances that we could find in the province but this, as he knows, goes back a long way.

The department, the minister and departmental staff are doing what we can do in order to address the shortages that you point out. As I pointed out before, this is not the kind of thing that is going to be resolved in every community overnight. What you need to know, though, is that there is a plan, that the adviser is in place, that the departmental staff are aware of the challenges that are there. They are doing the appropriate consultations to try to make sure that we’re able to provide the services that your community needs.

MR. THERIAULT: Mr. Speaker, today in the Public Accounts Committee my colleague, the member for Halifax Clayton Park, questioned the Department of Health official about the Corpus Sanchez report, what was meant by a shared service model for the Annapolis and Digby ERs. The official reply was that the shared service model may allow one of the two ERs in the region to remain open full time.

It is possible that one of these ERs will be kept open at the expense of the other. My question to the Minister of Health is, will she accept the recommendation from the South West Nova District Health Authority that would see the ER at Digby General reduced to something less than the 24/7?

HON. MAUREEN MACDONALD: Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the member for the question. As the Premier indicated, we are very aware of the challenges that have existed in this area of the province for a considerable period of time.

We have encouraged, with the advice from the district health authorities, that they look at various ways, various models of providing services to meet the needs of the population but, Mr. Speaker, in no way are we going down the road to close emergency rooms in the Annapolis Valley or in the Digby area. Our objective is to provide good emergency room services in that honourable member’s community and in the surrounding communities.

MR. THERIAULT: Mr. Speaker, this government’s lack of action leads us to believe that it’s not concerned about the well-being of the people of Digby, Digby Neck and Islands. The Minister of Health should prove this isn’t the case by meeting with the people of this area and taking meaningful action to improve health care accessibility in that area.

My question to the Minister of Health is, will the minister commit to personally holding a public meeting in Digby this month to address the concerns regarding accessibility to health and the nurse practitioner who is being fired?

MS. MAUREEN MACDONALD: Mr. Speaker, as the honourable member knows, last week I met with the warden for the area, and other concerned citizens from the area, who have been involved with a liaison committee between that community’s clinic and the district health authority. It is my intention to visit various parts of the province to meet with health care providers, to look at and learn more about the issues that I and my department are expected to be working on. That schedule will very much be dependent on the amount of time I have to put in with respect to dealing with the H1N1 pandemic situation, but I want to assure the honourable member that, in the not so distant future, I will be making a visit to his community and I’ll advise him of when I’m in the area.