Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to know that the health recruitment unit is continuing to do good work for the Northwest Territories. I've been reviewing the Minister's statement that she provided to the House. 12 percent increase is great, but I notice it's not called the health care retention unit, and the thing that's been challenging for filling the nurse vacancy is keeping nurses on the payroll. Many call it a revolving door. 94 percent of nurses have reported burnout.
So can the Minister clarify, of that 12 percent increase in indeterminate staff, how many of those are being retained year on year? So we know when we hire these folks, they are actually staying, they're learning local knowledge, learning how to care for people, and gaining that kind of northern nuance that you need to be successful in providing health care, especially in small communities. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I heard the start of the question, I started trying to pull up data. I do have that data. We do maintain those -- that kind of information. I don't have the data at my fingertips. I did state yesterday, it is accurate that the percentage quota done in terms of the recruitment does not necessarily account for retention. So there is certainly some turnover loss within that percentage in terms of the overall hiring. I am happy to provide those numbers to the House. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that would be useful to report publicly. So when it comes to the performance of this unit, can the -- currently, my understanding is that they measure their performance by time to fill a position rather than how long the employee lasts in the position. So would the Minister consider either changing the metric of success to that, how long the employee stays, or at least reporting on how long the employee stays? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, perhaps what I'd suggest is that we add it. I think it is certainly beneficial to know overall what percentages we're hitting in terms of our ability to recruit. It allows us to ensure that the recruitment packages remain as supportive as possible but certainly happy to add some other metrics in terms of looking at different ways that we can track the work that is happening within this unit. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Amazing, Thank you. That's exactly what we need to see, because we need transparency. You could say we're recruiting lots of nurses but if we don't know the need, if we don't know how long they're staying, it's not a really good metric. So what is the Minister doing to do the retention piece? Can we change the name to the health recruitment and retention unit, HRRU? Because that is a key piece that we need to do a better job. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, this is a combined effort now. The retention piece does fall not solely within the Department of Finance but also within the Department of Health and Social Services and with the authorities. So absolutely, I want to acknowledge that there's a lot to be done in terms of morale across public service and morale in health care specifically so, again, happy to perhaps provide a longer response, written follow-up response, to the House, detailing some of the efforts between the Department of Finance with our employment satisfaction but also with the Department of Health and Social Services. Because I agree it's an important conversation, and the public service should hear us say it, that we want to make sure they're staying and serving their residents. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
