Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was interested to note the release of the 10-year report on the Health Information Act, and I am a bit concerned about some of the recommendations that have come out of it and I am curious if the health Minister has an overarching response. We haven't really seen a response from the government yet to this report, so I am wondering if the Minister has any reflections to share at this time about the report. Thank you. Health Minister.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as that report has just publicly been released, I had a high-level look at it and, yes, into the recommendations. And what I can say at this point is that a lot of the recommendations, this government -- this was a new -- when it was introduced, it was the first time, and then there was a 10-year review. What we've learned over the years has been highlighted in this report. You know, as we tried to work as one government, there are many -- when we look at integrated case management, there becomes areas of that area when we're trying to do statistics. You know, our legislation has been, let's say, you know, is there to protect the information of health but many users of the system now, as government and even residents, are finding that it sometimes is a little too strict so that it's not allowing for us to do certain things. So there are pieces in that and we'll continue to analyze that. And as this report goes -- as we delve into this report, then we can respond to those recommendations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one recommendation in the report or issue raised is that of snooping, Mr. Speaker. I've spoken with constituents about this. It is an extremely violating experience for people when something like that happens.
Mr. Speaker, is the Minister committed to investigating -- strengthening our Health Information Act to establish a snooping law, as noted in the Cabin Radio article on this subject today? Mr. Speaker, are we looking into addressing the serious issue of snooping more seriously in the Health Information Act? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since I've become the Minister, and somebody who's worked in the health system for many, many years, yes, when people access health care and the confidentiality of their health records is probably one of the most important documents that we need to ensure that we can show public trust, that this kind of a document within our hands is protected. That means protected to be utilized for the purposes that it's intended to. And when people in our system breach that trust, that creates -- and, you know, it creates a distrust in our whole system, and it could impact patient care. And so, yes, I do believe that there are pieces in our legislation that could, you know, fine and do those types of things to -- within the snooping. But what I can say at this point is that we will take that back as a government. We will make those decisions once we have those recommendations put forward. But I do agree that we need to make sure that people know that this is not okay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We didn't quite get to a commitment there. But I will just say, Mr. Speaker, that I strongly encourage the Minister to establish and strengthen snooping -- I am at a loss for the words but punishments in the Act, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, several other issues were raised in the report. The fact that we do not currently have a patient portal and are unable to support one --
(Audio).
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister speak to the lack of a patient portal and the fact that our Health Information Act can't keep up with the territory's service integration push and how the Minister is going to address those issues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reason why we do not have a patient portal -- and it speaks to this in the report -- is that our electronic health record is -- as we've said many times, as I've said many times in this House, that it's not -- it's old. It can't do any new things, new shiny things. And so we need a new shiny thing so that we can get a patient portal. And that is what we're working towards, and we're hoping to be able to have this RFP released soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Colleagues, being in recognition of the time, we're going to take a brief break.
---SHORT RECESS
