Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad that the Member asked this question because this is -- this piece here is near and dear to my heart, and this is what the direction as it was given to the department as part of this is reviewing our staffing models in our health centres and not just, you know, our centres that currently have nurses but all health centres across the territory. We have nine communities that have no -- you know, they have a CHR, and if we're lucky they have a home support worker in those communities. We need to be looking at, you know, the incidents of how much, you know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the primary care reform is the overall providing of care to all residents in the Northwest Territories. As the Member has stated, in Yellowknife there has been some changes within the program itself. It went from primary care teams of ten, which did not include -- all of those teams did not include physicians on every team. Some of them didn't include community health nurses on those teams. Those teams didn't include LPNs. They didn't include the holistic wellness worker. So what happened was is that there was too many teams spread out too thin and so what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can get back to the Member of an update or a timeline of this review. I would like to, however, say that a lot of the things that were in the review, the supportive living review of 2023, those that have been done have been able to be completed internally and so this review is some of the stuff that's being done internally to analyze those clients that are out of territory, you know, bringing them back if they're -- what that might look like. But, again, many of the things that have -- the recommendations that have been accepted of this report also need...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the territory currently does not send short-term respite stays. They're not part of the out-of-territory supportive living program; therefore, no funds are being spent on this. There are, however, oftentimes when families have, you know, reached capacity and when they're providing services and sometimes, you know, those needs are so complex that end up -- you know, there's an admission into our health care system, into our hospitals, but there isn't a short-term out-of-territory program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following 14 documents: Additional Information for Written Question 9-20(1): Physician Vacancy Rates; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 328-20(1): Speech-language Pathologist Positions; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 340-20(1): Supported Living Review and Recommendations; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 342-20(1): Primary Care Reform; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 347-20(1): Physician Workforce Plan; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 348-20(1): Health Care Services; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 358-20(1): Primary Care Physicians; Follow-up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every year, I believe, the health authority does quality patient -- they do surveys. So patients coming in, they can take the surveys, they're offered the surveys. There's online. You can call quality risk if there's concerns.

One of the things that we have to take into consideration when we're measuring all of the programs in health, you know, we measure them with our outcomes. And so when we have our statistics, you know, through CIHI, like, we can see whether or not our chronic diseases are increasing or decreasing. The access to physician care, you know...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say, you know, I've had ongoing conversations with the Member and, you know, every time we have this dialogue, you know, there are more things that come to light. And so having these conversations here in this House but also having this conversation with my counterparts last week in Halifax with all of the federal, provincial, territorial Ministers, you know, and saying health care across Canada is changing, and it's not just changing in Canada and Northwest Territories; it's changing around the world. So people having to access care, you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the model of individualized funding for supportive living has been identified as a recommendation in the supportive living review of 2023. The department has established a working group to examine the resources that would be required to establish these types of options for Northwest Territories' residents, and this work is in progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a process internally for all staff, you know, and I think that's the tool that they need to use. And from when I speak to the senior staff, they're not hearing. And so if that's an issue, then, you know -- and this is what I recommended to the staff. If they're not getting an answer from their immediate direct supervisor, then they go to the next level. And, you know, and I mean, coming to the -- directly to the Minister's office, a lot of this stuff is operational. A lot of it is staffing, you know, and the things that the Member, like...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I appreciate that question because the process for the NTHSSA is, you know, they have the authority; we've been questioned on how the money is being spent in there. We have a deficit. So over the years, in order to deal with some of those issues, has been they are running a deficit because they're trying to fit in areas where there's not -- you know, where the staffing vacancies are, where there's only a certain amount of staff per unit, there's -- you know, and so there's a process for that. And right now, what the process is is they run a...