Sandy Lee

Two points to that, one is that Yellowknife has more assisted living beds than any community in the Territories. The second is that, Mr. Speaker, the Member knows that we do our budgets together. It’s not the department alone that sets out this budget.

I agree with the Member that this is an issue that we need to plan for. That’s one of the reasons why the department has worked to finish the long-term care facilities plan for the next 20 years, which has not been done before. The long-term care unit is not just for seniors, it’s for anybody who needs long-term care. I agree with the Member...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I already stated, the regional health centre/wellness centre/long-term care in Norman Wells stands on its own. It is the only region in the Territories without a Level C care facility for all the reasons that the deputy minister mentioned. The 48 repatriation rule that is under effect from Alberta facilities, the surge capacity, the need for us to use technology more and to have facilities in place where our local travelling specialized staff could go to different places and provide services, we just don’t have that in the Norman Wells facility.

That facility, I...

I’m going to invite the deputy minister to add more to what I have to say. The Fort Smith centre is being renovated to meet the needs of the residents that it serves. The way it is designed now -- it was a hospital many, many years ago -- it is designed and being renovated to reflect the ISDM model and integrated services that we need to provide. We’re putting emphasis on the midwifery program there, which is serving the community well. There are residents from outside that are coming in to use that facility. We also want to be able to do other services. I don’t want to get into technical...

The Member is exactly right in what he’s saying and I want to let the Member know that, in fact, a lot is being done. It’s not correct to say that nothing’s being done. We are looking at the governance model and we will have a proposal on that in the spring. We are reviewing the business process design, because we want to right size the budget for the authorities. We’re reviewing the Medical Travel Program, which is one of the biggest cost drivers in terms of deficit, with increasing demands all the time. So we don’t want to reduce service, but we want to see how we can do that better.

Physicia...

I see the Member’s points, especially when we’re talking about the overall financial pressure on our system. The fact is that I think we only have three resident doctors outside of Yellowknife in the NWT. We don’t know that it’s going to get better in terms of being able to recruit and retain physicians in communities outside of Yellowknife. Yellowknife has been highly successful in recruiting and retaining doctors.

Now, what we need to do, and the things that we are grappling with in the Department of Health and Social Services is that we need to have a system-wide plan on how we are going to...

I appreciate that really the detailed discussion we’re having is for this fiscal year, but as I stated to the public of Simpson residents who showed up at our meeting when we visited with the Member, the Fort Simpson facility needs significant work on its foundation and renovation. It will be out for planning study up next, the Simpson facility.

Mr. Speaker, I answered the question the Member asked, which is what is the projected deficit for Stanton and the system-wide deficit at the end of 2010-11. I don’t know what information he has. Maybe he is thinking about accumulated deficit.

Obviously, this is a number that we are projecting. Mr. Speaker, this is a serious matter that I am willing to discuss and exchange information with the Member on. I don’t think anybody is doing any creative math here. All the facts are out. We presented to the Members on the other side all the information we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don’t have that number handy. I think Smith is budgeted for five doctors.

All building projects under government funding are a joint project between service departments like ours, Department of Health and Social Services, and building departments, the Department of Public Works. I believe the Department of Public Works has a committee or a group set up to look at the environmental aspect of that. So I don’t know if Minister McLeod has any more to add, but the building and the design and the environmental part of it is DPW’s side. Thank you.

I need to get more detail. I don’t want to get the facts wrong. I believe some of it is leased. Government is leasing from Tlicho the B-C health centre, but not the long-term care centre that is there right now. I will confirm that. I just want to make sure that I have my information correct. That’s my understanding.