Photo by Vince Fedoroff
CANCER TREATMENT IMPROVEMENTS PROMISED – Yukon Party election candidate Mike Nixon discusses the party’s ideas to improve health care at this morning’s news conference. With him is Geraldine Van Bibber, the party’s candidate in Porter Creek North.
A re-elected Yukon Party government would expand chemotherapy treatment space at the Whitehorse General Hospital.
A re-elected Yukon Party government would expand chemotherapy treatment space at the Whitehorse General Hospital.
It would also cut MRI wait times by half, Mike Nixon, the Nov. 7 election candidate for Porter Creek South announced today.
Enlarging the chemotherapy room would be part of the ongoing emergency room expansion project.
There are enough staff to treat more people; the problem right now is space, said Nixon, who is the Minister of Health and Social Services.
“What we hear from Yukoners is that the space is very small, there’s maybe privacy issues,” he said.
“That’s a very intimate point in time in a person’s life, and a very challenging time, and we want to make sure that one, they’ve got the best service ... but two, that we’ve got a comfortable space for them.”
The Yukon government budgeted $21.997 million for the MRI and ER expansion this fiscal year. It estimates it will spend another $17.881 million in 2017-18 to complete the project.
Including the amount that’s already been spent on the MRI and ER expansion, it’s estimated to cost a total of $71.996 million.
The cost of the new chemotherapy treatment space would come out of the money that’s already been allocated for the ER expansion.
“It’s basically a re-announcement,” admitted Nixon.
“We’re just committing that $40 million over the next two years to complete the ER expansion and then, as we find space within the hospital, the current infrastructure, and space is allocated for the new chemo room, then we’ll look at what resources we need to provide to make that happen for Yukoners.”
It’s hard to say by how much the treatment room would grow at this point, said Nixon.
The Yukon Hospital Corp. would make that determination “as they assess the space that they have freed up because of the ER expansion.”
There’s no set date for the opening of the new treatment room, as it’s dependent upon the completion of the ER expansion, but it would be sometime in the “next few years,” said Nixon.
The MRI machine in Whitehorse is the only one in the territories, and has been operating since January 2015.
Yukoners have expressed concern over MRI wait times, which can run as long as six months, he said.
The Yukon Party would aim to cut the maximum wait time for an MRI to three months.
It’s not a question of running the MRI machine for more hours a day, said Nixon. The hold up is in getting the images interpreted.
Since there are no radiologists in the Yukon, the scans must be sent to radiologists in the South.
“Where we’re finding the gaps is with the contracted radiologist services, so if we can turn that around quicker, then we can get people in for MRIs quicker,” said Nixon.
To speed up the process, the Yukon Party would spend $200,000 more per year on contracted radiologist services.
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Comments (13)
Up 0 Down 0
Cheryl McDonald on Nov 1, 2016 at 9:26 pm
Nixon- you want Yukoners to believe in your business aptitude and concern for the Territory, yet continuously show your ineptness and lack of healthcare knowledge. How long were you Minister of Health and why didn't you push this then? Make promises after your term is done AND take credit for Dougies work. Looking for that pension.
Up 9 Down 1
north_of_60 on Oct 31, 2016 at 5:45 pm
The Hospital Corp is burdened by a huge cadre of very expensive senior bureaucrats who don't do much more than warm chairs until their obscene pensions kick in.
That's why we don't have enough trained technicians to run at least two shifts when there is a backlog of MRI referrals.
Up 8 Down 1
Mark Sanders on Oct 31, 2016 at 11:44 am
what about an evening shift, would it resolve the problem?
Up 14 Down 2
Misinformed Nixon on Oct 29, 2016 at 12:23 am
This is completely false. The problem is that we are not getting enough people through the MRI scanner - not in how long it takes for the MRIs to be read by a radiologist. Those are two separate issues. Our MRIs are being read within one business day - the same as in any other city in Canada. Other machines are being run around the clock. I don't know if that is necessary in Yukon, but if we had another trained tech to run the MRI and were able to keep it going for more hours in a day...then we'd shorten the wait times.
Up 15 Down 2
drum on Oct 28, 2016 at 5:51 pm
Amazing the promises from the governing party - they could have done all this in the (10 years????) in power
Up 19 Down 4
Icefog on Oct 27, 2016 at 2:32 pm
@north60 Absolutely - and the heads of these crown corps are all part of the 'Good Ol Boys' club who will remain there no matter how ineffective they are. That is unless the Yukon Party who put them there loses power, which we can only hope is a few weeks from now.
Up 23 Down 4
north_of_60 on Oct 27, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Do they really expect us to believe that with internet communication and hundreds of radiologists in Canada that they can't get an image interpreted in 24 hours?
The long wait times are due to administrative inefficiencies and unqualified bureaucrats which have become the standard with the Hospital Corp.
Up 24 Down 5
YukonMax on Oct 27, 2016 at 11:27 am
Promising something that is long overdue by a sitting government that has had the power to do it for a decade isn't a promise. It's an immediate need that shouldn't be on the said government platform. Unless they JUST realized how bad things are.
Up 19 Down 3
Just Say'in on Oct 26, 2016 at 10:23 pm
If the hold-up has always been the people interpreting them then why did we buy one??? This is ridiculous, let's hire the people then, and read our own and run it 24-7 and make it earn its keep. This stuff makes no sense at all. Can you imagine if a business was run like this? What would you would say? Your furnace quits and they say it will be six months before we can look at it. Is this crazy or what? Fire some as**s and hold some feet to the fire and get things happening.
Up 26 Down 3
WastelandKave on Oct 26, 2016 at 9:32 pm
Instead of shipping another 200 grand out of the territory why don't you hire another person so you can do MRI's on the weekend and at night? I've heard about people who are being flown south on a Saturday because they can't get an emergency MRI until Monday because of staffing. Seems odd.
Up 17 Down 1
Agnes Riediger on Oct 26, 2016 at 7:08 pm
I'd just like to know where you would expand that space for Chemo?
Up 45 Down 15
June Jackson on Oct 26, 2016 at 3:43 pm
They've had years to do this.. fools.
Up 50 Down 15
Barbarella on Oct 26, 2016 at 3:27 pm
An announcement billed as as such but it's really an old horse running around the track with a new blanket. How sad is that. How unimaginative and insulting. The conservative party really is in trouble! Also, why wasn't Nixon, the Minister of Health, at the Health debate????