Nunavik health officials pass stricter patient escort policy – Nunatsiaq.com
Now local committees will compile lists of qualified escorts
March 05, 2018
KUUJJUAQ—The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services is toughening up its rules for out-of-region medical travel.
The health board met in Kangirsuk Feb. 22 and Feb. 23 to pass a resolution that clarifies which patients in the region qualify to be accompanied on medical travel, and who is eligible to accompany them.
Health officials revisited the board’s escort policy in 2017 when statistics from Nunavik’s new patient boarding centre in Montreal, Ullivik, showed hundreds of incidents reported by its staff.
The incidents included intoxication and drug possession, violence, missed appointments and missed departures, on the part of both patients and escorts.
“The fact is that we have so many escorts that aren’t complying to the rules and regulations, and not providing support to the patients they’re escorting,” said Minnie Grey, the health board’s executive director. “It’s just too much.”
