Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a great pleasure to ask the first question. I'll be asking the health Minister today some questions about the lab clinic that's downtown.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain why there's such lengthy line-up there in the walk-up portion of the clinic every single day wherein in the old days there wasn't that type of backlog. What has significantly changed that things either get deferred, delayed, or denied completely? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have the exact details of the overall wait times or anything. But what I do know is that the amount of staff that's allocated through our budgeting process is full, and they have been increasing the amount -- like, the amounts of referrals for blood work have been increasing and therefore there is work to be looking on -- you know, I mean, through our business process on this area as a prioritized area for access to care. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the staff are unable to meet the demand, what's the solution? Is it to hire more staff, or is it to send samples of the lab techs, what they take, to Edmonton? Can the Minister reveal the solution to this particular problem; because I've got them. I want to hear what the Minister's doing about it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the solution is that the demand is higher, so we are working through the business process that would look at the right amount of staff for the right amount of tests that we have to decrease the amount of tests that we have to send out. We need more lab technicians. We need more lab, you know, assistants. We need different hours. So what has happened -- and just to be more clear -- is the service providing downtown clinic is the same staffing that has always been the allocation for the Stanton lab. So now they're just kind of spread out in two different locations, which is not working. And so I will say that this area is what we've been kind of working on so that hopefully that, you know, in the new year we'll be able to have a better solution. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Mr. Speaker, the next comment is no reflection of the staff, but it seems like the staff are unable to keep up with the pace and the demand that's there, which is sometimes reality, Mr. Speaker. And the constituents -- last point I'll make -- is they show up there, unlike the DMV they can't take a ticket, some of them can't stand because they're elderly, they're waiting for 35 people for 32 spots. It's quite a depressing experience, Mr. Speaker. So in short, Mr. Speaker, if Stanton has an addiction to deficits, as we all know -- and I have a lot of experience around this -- why doesn't the Minister take some bold action to go out of her way and say, we're hiring new staff for these clinics and we're going to make this service equal, fair, and accessible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has said, that the health authority has a history of doing that process but not being able to do it in a way where we need to ensure that it's done in the proper process, and that is what we are doing right now. We are ensuring that the proper process is being followed and that we are going to look at the correct amount of staff to staff -- to look at what the staffing needs is for the Stanton Territorial Hospital to support. As the Stanton Territorial Hospital supports the rest of the territory, we need to make sure that when we do go forward, it's going to be the one size that's going to target everybody right across the territory. We're going to be able to run those tests that we need. We're going to be able to service the emergency departments. We're going to be able to open up those clinics so that, you know, that the appointments are being -- there is enough staff to do them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
