91社区破解版

The Yukon government and official Opposition continue to disagree on whether reduced hospital services occurred at the 91社区破解版 General Hospital in November and December 2023.

Yukon Party health critic Brad Cathers raised the issue again Wednesday in question period .

鈥�(Tuesday) in question period and in comments to the media, the minister of Health and Social Services claimed that the Yukon Hospital Corporation was able to avoid any disruptions or reductions of services because of funding provided by the government in December. That, quite frankly, is blatantly incorrect,鈥� Cathers said.

The minister in question, Tracy Anne-McPhee, responded, 鈥淭he cost containment measures put in place did not result in significant service reductions during this period or have a lasting impact on wait times.鈥�

Cathers then brought up a letter that has been at the crux of the matter.

鈥淗ere is what 14 local doctors and surgeons said in a letter to the minister on November 20, 2023: 鈥楻eduction of services has already been rolled out and staffing contracts have already been cancelled, with scheduled OR capacity already reduced.鈥�

鈥淭hat letter also says that 鈥溾�� this reduction in surgical services has already been implemented . 鈥︹��

鈥淲hy is the minister trying to rewrite history and claim that there were no service reductions at our hospitals when there so clearly were service reductions?鈥� Cathers asked.

McPhee replied, 鈥淢ost wait times have remained neutral, and the number of surgeries and imaging exams provided by the hospital have increased year over year.

鈥淭he number of medical imaging exams overall is projected to have increased in 2023-24 by 14 per cent over the year before. The number of surgical procedures is projected to be six per cent higher than last year,鈥� the minister said.

鈥淧lans were activated in the fall of 2023 to resume normal services at the hospital on November 29, 2023, other than the usual seasonal service slowdown that is predicted over Christmas.鈥�

Cathers replied, 鈥淚t seems that yet again the minister of Health isn鈥檛 letting the facts get in the way of her talking points on this issue. Throughout last fall, multiple media reports that cited the hospital corporation鈥檚 media spokesperson and multiple leaked documents from the hospital all showed that cuts and caps on medical imaging began in early November.鈥�

After objecting to Cather鈥檚 term 鈥渓eaked documents鈥�, McPhee broke down additional funding provided to the hospital corporation.

鈥淥n December 1, 2023, our government announced the provision of additional funding to the Yukon Hospital Corporation to address immediate pressures that were impacting surgeries and medical imaging.

鈥淥n February 16, 2024, the department provided $6.5 million in increased funding that was received the week of February 19, 2024.鈥�

Of that, 鈥� $5.2 million was to address the operation and maintenance deficit at the hospital; $1 million was to address capital maintenance; $300,000 was for breast cancer screenings; and $25,000 was with respect to loan servicing.鈥�

Cathers told reporters after question period, 鈥淚n the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the report done by Ernst and Young, they found that the hospital was so short of money, that they diverted over $7 million in capital, and that if they hadn鈥檛 done that, they would have been at risk of not even be able to cover payroll.

鈥淭hen, last fiscal year, the year that just wrapped up, the hospital began the year short $30 million it needed, in O&M funding. The government did provide that through top-up of a little over $17 million in the fall and a further $12.5 million in the (supplementary) budget that just passed here last week,鈥� Cathers said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 also quite telling that after the minister has spent quite a bit of time insisting that they fully met the hospital鈥檚 needs in December, in question period today, she finally admitted that they didn鈥檛 provide the hospital with the millions of dollars they needed to cover the deficit until February of this year.

鈥淎gain, it鈥檚 been this pattern of this minister, of denying the facts, denying the facts, denying the facts. Even past the point when there鈥檚 been substantial evidence presented publicly of a problem.鈥�

Speaking with McPhee late Wednesday afternoon, the Star asked her why there is such a discrepancy between what the Yukon Party is saying and what her department is countering with.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 actually think there is a discrepancy between what the department information that they鈥檙e giving me and that we鈥檝e presented over to you about how quickly we responded to this particular situation,鈥� she said.

鈥淏ut I certainly think that the Yukon Party has been interested in trying to paint this in the worst possible light. And I think that鈥檚 unfortunate because I don鈥檛 think it serves Yukoners.鈥�

Last Nov. 20, the doctors penned their letter, she noted.

鈥淥n the 24th, I was made aware of the concerns about the potential reduction of surgical services. No significant reductions were made at that time.

鈥淏y the 29th of November, the deputy minister had written back to the doctors to say, 鈥榳e鈥檙e on it; we understand, we agree.鈥�

McPhee said she sent a note to the hospital corporation Nov. 30 鈥渢o not implement any of those measures because we will work together with them.

鈥淲e knew that it was probably between $6 million and $7 million. The message that we sent to the hospital on Nov. 30 was to don鈥檛 do this.

鈥溾�業f you鈥檝e reduced anything, put everything back and make it you as it was. Continue with the appointments, continue with people services, and we will help,鈥欌�� she said.

On Dec. 1 (not Dec. 12, as stated Tuesday), the government announced it would be providing extra funds to the hospital corporation.

She was asked if there had been a reduction in services in November and December.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a possible reduction in November but not in December,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause there is always a scheduled kind of slowdown over Christmas and because this kind of bumps into that, there seemed to be this idea that it was going to be extended.

鈥淚 think it was extended for one week because of the staffing issues of having both nurses and doctors available during that period of time,鈥� the minister said.

鈥淚鈥檓 told that there was no significant reduction in services, because this all played out the way it did.

鈥淲e should have known about it ahead of time. We鈥檝e improved those relationships. We have weekly meetings now and weekly cash flow reports with respect to the hospital corp.鈥�

When a section of the Nov. 20 letter from the 14 doctors and surgeons was brought to McPhee鈥檚 attention and she was asked for a response, McPhee replied, 鈥淭here was a response.鈥�

McPhee said the deputy minister, Tiffany Boyd, responded to the letter within a couple of days.

鈥淚 wish that I could explain for you in a satisfactory way what Mr. Cathers thinks. Mr. Cathers wants to tell one story and unfortunately, it clashes with the information that I have,鈥� the minister said.

Regarding the actual numbers of services provided, McPhee said, 鈥淲e just don鈥檛 have that kind of data because everything moves so quickly in the system.

鈥淭he hospital corporation is quite separate from the Department of Health and Social Services, so I wouldn鈥檛 have that information anyway. But they鈥檝e indicated to me that initially those services had been increased, like certainly the medical imaging, and then they decreased to sort of back to normal levels.鈥�

McPhee also outlined why Yukoners shouldn鈥檛 be worried about future reductions in service.

鈥淥ur emergency room has not closed, our hospital services have not ended in any way we have not stopped service in any way. Are the wait times increasing? Yes.

鈥淗ave they increased to the place where we are not necessarily thrilled about that? Absolutely.

鈥淏ut we have a 12 per cent population growth. And so that is noticeable in our health care provision of services. We have an aging population.鈥�

McPhee continued with pointing out the positives in the Yukon health care system.

鈥淚 think that we have competitive salaries and service fees for doctors. We have competitive salaries for nurses, we have a competitive bonus structure for nurses and we are continuing to work to make sure that we are staffing to our highest levels so that there won鈥檛 be future reductions in service.鈥�

There鈥檚 also a program of between two and sometimes three or four orthopedic surgeons in 91社区破解版 working full- time and providing those services here, such as hip and knee replacements.

McPhee was asked if she believes the 2024-25 budget would be sufficient for Yukoners鈥� health care needs.

鈥淚 do not have a crystal ball,鈥� she replied. 鈥淚鈥檓 confident that everybody has done their job and made the best possible estimates that we can at this time, and we work closely with the hospital, and they鈥檝e provided us with this number of $110 million, which is an extraordinary amount of money and that is what鈥檚 in the budget this year to meet their needs.

鈥淏ut I鈥檓 also aware that as the year unfolds, we might have increased chemo costs. We might have increased nursing costs. We might have another population boom. All of those things could affect the future.鈥�

McPhee added core funding has been increased by $15 million over last year, from the $95 million in the 2023-24 estimated budget to the current $110 million.