Lesa Semmler

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, we currently don't have that specific data as I don't have that data. But I can tell you that there are 147 NWT residents receiving out-of-territory care. There are also 55 clients within the Northwest Territories receiving supportive living services. To be eligible for out-of-territory supportive living program, there must be evidence that their support needs cannot be met within the Northwest Territories. But I can confirm that the department is undertaking an analysis of the support needs of the out-of-territory clients to inform models and resources...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this committee recommendation. I've reflected on my experience both as a Regular Member and as the past chair of Committee of the Whole in the 19th Assembly. I've also considered where discussions like this usually take place in the Legislative Assembly and where there are several areas where this happens.

Mr. Chair, question period: Members have the opportunity to ask any question they like during question period. Members may use this time during question period to question Ministers about the statements they have made as...

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...

Mr. Speaker, as the Member is saying this, right now there is actual leadership training going on within the NTHSSA to support those managers to do the work that the Member is asking for. Why this is only happening now? I can't speak as to what happened in the past or what changes. But we know that our managers are taxed with a lot -- we know our frontline staff is taxed with a lot. How do we support our managers to help, you know, to work with their frontline staff to let their frontline staff feel supported? That's the work that's going on right now. It might not be out there nice and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the make-up of the authority for the operations, which are the frontline staff which we hear a lot about from the Members of this House, lies within the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services. They are -- they have a governing council. So within the authority, where the Minister's relationship is is I get to work with the governing council over that authority. And, you know, when these issues are raised, I, you know, will have those conversations, not just with my own -- with the governing council chair but with my own deputy minister to be...