Yellowknife lab changes caused ‘new problems rather than solving one’

Yellowknife residents say changes meant to improve access to lab services at Stanton Territorial Hospital have actually made things worse.

The NWT’s health authority said in April residents would be able to book same-day and advance appointments in addition to the previous method of visiting the lab during opening hours and waiting to be seen.

At the time, the health authority said the changes increased options for accessing hospital lab services in response to patient feedback.

Multiple residents wrote to Cabin Radio complaining about the new system.

One described a three-week wait to get an advance appointment while another said walking in and waiting could take five hours.

A third resident said they had called in early June to book an appointment, only to be told the first available slot was in July.

With children at home, that resident said they couldn’t wait in line at 7am for same-day service, leaving “no option other than to wait.”

Breaking something by trying to fix it

Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse raised a complaint from one of his constituents in the legislature earlier this month. “Seconds” after sharing their story, he said, “the text messages started rolling in” from people in similar situations.

He said that shows the new process is “not working well for people.”

“MLAs often make statements fighting for change in our healthcare system but, in this case, I think we have an example where change has caused new problems rather than solving one,” Morse said.

“I haven’t been receiving any complaints about this service in the past and now, all of a sudden, we’re receiving a lot of complaints. We seem to have broken something by trying to fix it.”

Morse said when his constituent showed up at the lab to wait as usual, they were told that was not actually an option. He said they were then told the next available advance appointment was three weeks away, but they couldn’t wait that long.

Morse said the resident then went to the hospital at 6:30am to book a same-day appointment. While they were eventually seen later that day, they described 18 people in line when the lab opened that morning, waiting for the 20 available same-day appointments.

“I cannot imagine many people having the time or ability to engage in the process I just detailed whenever they have lab work to be done,” Morse said.

“I am concerned this new process is going to be a barrier for a single mother, elderly person, someone with ability challenges, or any other person with vulnerabilities or life demands that are going to override their capacity to engage in this process.”

‘The process is going to continue the way it is’

Health minister Lesa Semmler told the legislature “there are always some difficulties” when a new process rolls out.

While the minister said she would not review the new system and asserted “the process is going to continue the way it is,” she said small changes would be implemented as it moves along.

“Before, we were getting a lot more complaints that there wasn’t some structure, there wasn’t time to book appointments, there wasn’t same-day appointments in the lab,” she said.

Semmler said some people “are grateful that they’re able to have appointments, they can preschedule them. They’re triaging those that are going in early in the morning.”

She added that since the new system was implemented, the lab was able to see 200 more patients last month.

Semmler said walking in and waiting at the lab is still an option, but she said there are only so many spaces available each day, which may be filled by people who show up early to book a same-day appointment.