Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as mentioned, the same-day appointments are available at the Liwego'ati and Yellowknife Primary Care locations. There is one phone number to book appointments for both locations, and people are told which location they'll have an appointment when they book if it is the same day. These appointments are filled on a first come/first serve basis, and the location where you would go would be determined by the number of providers working that day and where they are working.

Mr. Speaker, we know that access to primary care is essential for maintaining overall...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, same-day appointments are available in both the Liwego'ati Building and at the primary care centre location. That's the downtown location. There are approximately 24 available same-day appointments Monday to Friday which are offered during expanded hours until 9 p.m., and there are approximately 18 available same-day appointments on Saturday available from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Same-day appointments can be booked by calling first thing in the morning or by walk-in to the primary care centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, the business plans -- and I agree, sometimes when we get into the beginning of how we're going to do things in a new government, it's very -- in a way, may I say vague as to how we're going to get these things done. But I -- you know, and that's one of the reasons why I think just recently I sent a letter to the committee on a briefing for the primary health care reform which will be able to dive deep into some of the work that the department is doing and for Members to be able to ask questions and get the information that they need in a better...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, and I appreciate that the Member is highlighting this. This is something that, you know, we always think that we live in a little bubble up here in the North and these kind of things are not going to happen to us but as I was in Halifax, there was another serious incident that happened there while we were there. And, you know, I hear it from my colleagues in Hay River, you know, the staff there are worried about the safety. And so we take this very seriously. And there is ongoing work right now learning from this specific incident, and any other...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to the code silver, there is a draft code silver policy that's been developed and since the beginning of this year, the policy is currently being reviewed by various stakeholders including the occupational health and safety and other various teams. Next steps will be to ask the RCMP to review. And then it will be circulated more broadly for feedback. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public administrator, yes, he is in place, and he is working on his mandate, and there are other things in his mandate that are -- that have been higher prioritized right now, and those are the things that he's focused on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since May 2024, Stanton Territorial Hospital has been gridlocked of an average of 10 to 15 days per month. So each day Stanton has an average of five patients in the emergency department waiting for a bed in the in-patient unit. For the past year, Stanton has been sitting at or above 100 percent capacity. As a result of no available beds for admission, Stanton has had to open extra beds in the ICU three to five days per month to treat and discharge emergency room patients. There are nine acute care beds that are currently occupied by patients who could be...

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, outpatient lab collection services in Yellowknife that are provided at the primary care centre and at -- and they are provided at the primary care centre and at Stanton Hospital. In the fall of 2024, Stanton Hospital changed their lab services to an appointment only model, but I can confirm that there are reserved appointments for those who receive urgent same-day requests to seek this service. And, Mr. Speaker, the lab service offered at the downtown primary care clinic include walk-in and same-day option and a waitlist option. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now I'm not sure if he's speaking directly to the primary clinic that's going on here in Yellowknife or as the primary care clinic that's going on in Fort Smith. If it's just in Yellowknife, I'll have to get back to the Member on the stats of the primary care since it opened not even a year ago. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.