Health care in the Northwest Territories costs twice as much as the national average.
That's one of the findings of the first phase of a sustainability review of NWT Health and Social Services Authority's (NTHSSA) books, which the GNWT launched in July 2024 with a special task force dubbed the Healthcare System Sustainability Unit (HCSS).
That unit on Thursday.
"These results will help shape the next phase of work: defining core services and exploring options to improve sustainability and efficiency while protecting access to essential care," stated Toyeke Adidepe, communications manager with the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. "The HCSS Unit will continue to collaborate with the Department of Health and Social Services and the three Health and Social Services Authorities, and work with frontline staff, leadership teams, and partners to guide this process.
"Together, this work supports the GNWT’s commitment to focus on providing a more sustainable health and social services system."
The HCSS unit has broken NTHSSA's operations into seven categories overarching over 100 services and 230 associated 'sub-programs.'
Among the initial findings, Health and Social Services amounts to just over a quarter of the GNWT's annual expenditures. Within NTHSSA's costs, medical travel amounts to 21.1 per cent of costs and is growing at a rapid pace. Hospital services make up the lion's share of staffing expenses. Approximately 3.5 per cent of NTHSSA's expenses comes from servicing deficit.
In its initial report, the unit notes it has found overlap within corporate service functions across the system and added that "the HSS system could benefit from better financial tracking processes."
The unit says the next phase of work will look at potential solutions to those issues.
