New addictions plan in works
Move comes as review of system says government needs to use its existing resources better
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, November 14, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government is drafting a new plan to address mental health and addictions issues, MLAs were told earlier this month.
Deputy minister Debbie DeLancey, centre, with Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy, right, speak at a committee meeting at the legislative assembly Nov. 2 about mental health and addictions plans. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
The Department of Health and Social Services is developing a series of linked plans on the two broad issues it expects to put in place by 2021.
It comes after the GNWT was handed a report this summer examining gaps in mental health and addictions care.
It concluded the GNWT has had numerous reports and studies of how the system functions but hasn't properly followed through on implementing recommendations.
The review found that the system does have the resources needed for the territory's population but a fragmented system, too many positions that are vacant and has failed to follow up on numerous previous reports and reviews recommending changes.
"You've got a lot of resources, you're not using them very wisely," said deputy health minister Debbie DeLancey, of the report's overall findings during a Nov. 2 briefing for the legislative assembly's Standing Committee on Social Development.
DeLancey and Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy highlighted the work carried out so far by department staff in creating new plans for mental health and addictions.
So far the government has issued a "strategic framework," a glossy document highlighting issues and ways it plans to tackle them at a broad level.
Now the department is working on three "action plans" touching on child and youth mental health, a broader mental health plan, and an addictions recovery plan.
Those will include specific actions or goals.
First comes the youth plan, she said.
"We will have to update our addictions recovery action plan, which will be the third priority," DeLancey said.
Mental health and addictions issues are linked and dealt with together, the framework document notes, in part because of multi-generational impacts of rapid social change, colonization and residential schools.
It's not clear how much the various aspects of the plans in development will cost, Abernethy told a committee.
"I think the answer is clear we definitely have to change some things. We are going to need more money, I don't want to give the allusion we won't," Abernethy said.
The framework document points out that from 2008-09 to 2010-11, 429 patients were hospitalized in the territory 615 times with one or more alcohol or drug-related issue on average per year. It resulted in 3,250 bed days at an estimated cost of $7.5 million.
The review of mental health and addictions was notable for one thing it didn't recommend: a new treatment centre in the territory.
The health minister said that option is off the table.
About 12 people at a given time identify as ready to use addictions treatment services, which isn't enough to provide the full range of programs and services that would be necessary for holistic treatment at a facility, he said.
