Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When my colleague for Range Lake was asking questions regarding nurse retention yesterday, it got me wondering what the department of health is doing in collaboration with HR.
Mr. Speaker, we always talk about recruitment. Do we ever put enough time in retention? My question to the Minister of Health and Social Services is what is she doing specifically to retain nurses knowing that they can find better deals elsewhere? We need to find ways to keep them here. So what is she doing about it.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services has a working group, and they have staff that are involved in the retention of staff. There are certain things that are going on within the department, and one of the other big pieces is within the health authority is training and mentorship, because we do have a lot of new staff, especially with us having the college and the nurses coming in. Our staff are feeling overwhelmed so to have dedicated staff to making sure that they are being supplemented to be able to support these new nurses and things. There's also other -- I know I have a list of them, but I don't have that detail at my fingertips. So I can share with the Members on that information. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will certainly accept that information. I am happy to read it and look through it.
Mr. Speaker, in many employment situations, they have what's called exit interviews. I understand that the territorial government does this in some cases. Not all cases are possible. I get that. So what the question really comes down to is what happens to that data through the exit interviews; where is it stored, who is it shared with, are there themes developed? And, you know, what type of transparency is brought into that data so we can talk about real challenges and real solutions? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. That was a little bit more than one question. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Yes, we do do exit interviews. The level of where those are done, I am not aware, but I know that when I was being briefed on coming up with the new -- you know, with the new people strategy, that that is one of the bigger areas where they are looking at, also from the town halls, also from the in-person meetings. And they've taken a lot of that information and tried to turn it into the new document that we should be hopefully being able to share shortly with committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am hearing workloads, ratios, and premiums matter to the nursing community specifically. But I am referring to the health section, so let's not just hammer it to -- or sorry, be too specific on one. That said, the Minister did allude to sharing it. I'd like to ask, can she share the last two years of data with Members so we can start talking about challenges and working on themes to be successful to keep them here in the Northwest Territories? Whether they're in a small community, a region, or in Yellowknife, it matters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I will take that back to NTHSSA to see what we have available to be able to share that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
