PACP Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Public Accounts |
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Comité permanent des comptes publics |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
IMPROVEMENTS ARE NEEDED TO ENSURE FIRST NATIONS INDIVIDUALS LIVING IN REMOTE COMMUNITIES HAVE ACCESS TO ESSENTIAL HEALTH SERVICES
Ottawa, June 18, 2015 -
OTTAWA – Health Canada needs to make improvements to its programs in order to ensure that First Nations individuals living in remote communities have access to essential clinical and client care services and medical transportation benefits, according to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ report presented today in the House of Commons by Committee Chair David Christopherson.
As individuals in remote First Nations communities have limited access to provincial health services, Health Canada provides funding for the delivery of health services in those communities. When health services are not available within First Nations communities, Health Canada provides medical transportation benefits.
In its Spring 2015 Reports, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) released a performance audit that examined whether Health Canada had reasonable assurance that eligible First Nations individuals living in remote communities in Manitoba and Ontario had access to clinical and client care services and medical transportation benefits.
In its audit, the OAG identified concerns with the completion of mandatory training courses by Health Canada nurses and their working outside their legislated scope of practice. Also, Health Canada had not ensured that deficiencies in health and safety requirements or building codes for nursing stations had been addressed, and had not assessed whether each nursing station was capable of providing essential health services.
With respect to medical transportation benefits, some First Nations individuals had not registered and were thereby ineligible for benefits, and Health Canada had not maintained sufficient documentation to demonstrate that benefits were delivered according to policy. Lastly, Health Canada did not take community needs into account when allocating its support and had not implemented its objective of ensuring comparable access to clinical and client care services as provincial residents living in similar geographic locations.
In its report, the Committee notes that Health Canada has prepared a detailed action plan to make improvements needed to ensure that First Nations individuals living in remote communities have access to essential health services. The Committee recommends that Health Canada inform the Committee of its rate of retention for nurses and its progress in implementing its action plan.
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