Foot care in Yellowknife clients’ homes is another health service that will be reduced due to a shortage of staff.
“Due to ongoing staffing level challenges and the need for specialized training for foot care, the home care team will be unable to provide services for clients who only require foot care in the community of Yellowknife,” reads a notice from the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA).
NTHSSA recommends that “any clients who are referred for foot care will be assessed for home care services; those who require home care will be accepted based on level of need/acuity.”
Home care staff will not be able to provide foot care services only. However, individuals who receive foot care as part of a broader range of home care services will continue to receive care for their feet.
For further information on current referrals to home care, NTHSSA asks residents contact Siobhain Healy, regional manager of Home Care Services at 867-767-9222 ext. 41089.
Other NWT communities, such as Fort Resolution and Tuktoyaktuk, will be seeing health service reductions until Aug. 26.
For Fort Resolution, emergency services will be impacted on Aug. 25 and 26.
As for Tuktoyaktuk, emergency services were cut back on Aug. 23 and will continue to be limited until Aug. 26
“The Rosie Ovayuak community health centre is on emergency services from the afternoon of Aug. 23 through Aug, 26 at 8 p.m.”
NTHSSA also provided an update on Stanton Territorial Hospital surgical services, stating that “Stanton operating rooms (OR) continue to be operating on reduced services.”
This includes a “planned reduction of OR services to 50 (per cent) capacity; to reduce overall volume of surgeries being done.”
“Deferral of planned but elective procedures as required based on staffing levels to ensure emergency and urgent procedures are able to be prioritized and safe care maintained.”
As per NTHSSA’s last update on Stanton operating rooms, these services are expected to be reduced until January 2023.
“To ensure NWT residents have the information they need to understand service levels, the NTHSSA will continue to work to proactively identify service impacts and provide residents with notice of service changes. As always; residents can check the status of service levels at www.nthssa.ca/service-levels.”