Volume 55 Number 17
Friday, May 1, 2015
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Remote First Nations receiving substandard health care, says auditor general BY IAN GRAHAM EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
The federal auditor general’s report on access to health services in remote First Nations of Manitoba and Ontario released this week found that the vast majority of nurses at Health Canada-run nursing stations had not completed all the department’s required training and that the stations themselves were not up to par with health and safety regulations and building codes. The report also highlighted defi ciencies in the registration of First Nations people in these communities that would entitle them to medical transportation benefits. “Overall, we found that Health Canada nurses working in nursing stations were properly registered with their provincial regulatory bodies, but only 1 of the 45 nurses in our sample had completed all fi ve of Health Canada’s mandatory training courses that we selected for examination,” says the report. Of the 24 nurses in the sample who were working at Health Canada nursing station in Manitoba, 19 (79 per cent) had completed the department’s nursing education module on controlled substances in First Nations health facilities, and the same number had completed education modules on immunization. Ten (42 per cent) had completed the International Trauma Life Support training course, the same number who had completed the Pediatric Advanced Life Support course. Only eight (33 per cent) had completed the Advanced Cardiac Life Sup-
Auditor general Michael Ferguson port course. The one nurse in the auditor general report sample who had completed all the required courses was employed in Manitoba. Health Canada said signifi cant vacancy and turnover rates in nursing made it difficult to ensure mandatory training was completed and that the first priority was to ensure adequate staffing levels at nursing stations, though it would strengthen efforts to ensure mandatory training is completed. Another problem the auditor general’s report identified in the delivery of health care services at nursing stations in remote First Nations communities was nurses providing services that were outside the scope of practice defined by provincial legislation and regulatory bodies, such as the College of Registered Nurses in Manitoba. Health Canada nurses provide some services beyond those nurses are authorized to perform, including prescribing and dispensing drugs, and performing chest and limb X-rays on patients over two years old. The auditor general also inspected a sample of eight nursing stations built before 2009 in remote First Nations communities, three of which were in Manitoba.
Health Canada requires such nursing station facilities to undergo an inspection every five years and, of the seven that had been inspected (two of them outside the required time period), there were a total of 30 deficiencies related to health and safety requirements or building codes identifi ed, 26 of which had not been addressed. There was no documentation for the four deficiencies that Health Canada said had been addressed. Seven of the deficiencies were in nursing stations in Manitoba, two of which had not been inspected since 2004 and one that had never been inspected. Examples of defi ciencies included fire alarm or emergency power systems that were not up to code, insufficient cooling and ventilations systems, unsafe stairs, ramps and doors, and poor accessibility for people with impaired mobility. Other issues included having no emergency backup generators, improper X-ray room door seals and defective locks. One residence used to house visiting nurses and health care providers had been unusable for two years because of a faulty septic system that causes cancellations of visits by health care workers. The audit also found that not all eligible people were being registered in the Indian Registration System, which is used to determine eligibility for medical transportation benefi ts. Of 21 births in Manitoba in 2013 that were sampled, 10 were registered in the system by their parents and 11 were not. Continued on Page 2
Pink sky portrait Nickel Belt News photo courtesy of Ann Bowman Ann Bowman caught the colours of the sunset over Paint Lake in this photograph from April 12.
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