Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have information on what the department has for an ask. I haven't seen that yet. But it's very unusual for us to offer a position like that for only one year. It's also very difficult to recruit people for a job that's only for one year. So my expectation is that the department is looking at other ways to fund this on a permanent basis. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are aware that the practice of pharmacy has expanded since our Pharmacy Act had a last substantial overhaul and that the pharmacists are able to deliver a greater scope of practice than they have historically and that that includes administering specific medications as well as prescribing them, which would be a huge help as things stand now. So we are planning to draft regulations to bring pharmacists into the Health and Social Services Professions Act and to do that work early in the life of the next Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows, NTHSSA and the department do work collaboratively with ECE in this area. And in the next fiscal year, the department is preparing for a review specifically of the speech language pathology services to understand the current service gaps and identify opportunities to improve services. And that work will include NTHSSA, Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, the Tlicho Community Services Agency, and ECE. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for that question. So last year we did reorganize services on the basis that the service provided within the schools is advisory and not therapy. The service provided within the clinics is therapy. And we prioritize the youngest children for that therapy so that they have the best success when they do begin school. Having said that, we have had and continue to have significant staff vacancies in both the inschool and the occupational therapy services. And so as a result, they were reduced for this school year. In school, consultative services...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a gap in our continuum of service which relates to people who are ready for detox and facilitybased treatment to have a place, a safe place to live while they retain regain their sobriety and move forward with counselling and the application form to get into facilitybased treatment. So what I would say about this is that the hospital is one possibility, but there needs to be a communitybased possibility as well where people have a safe place to stay where they can access counselling, where they can use whatever therapy has been prescribed to them...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following document: Followup Letter for Oral Questions 1210, 1232, and 125519(2): Addictions Treatment. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, with us today we have Avery Parle, who is the vicepresident of the Northern Territories Federation of Labour, and my old friend David Wasylciw, who doesn't live in my riding. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents: Tlicho Community Services Agency Health and Social Services Agency Annual Report 20212022; the 20222023 Health and Social Services Authority Budgets; Hay River Health and Social Services Authority Annual Report 20212022; and, the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority 20212022 Annual Report. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Yes, thank you. So this is a threetier process. We are currently in tier one, which looks at internal controls and cost containment initiatives. Some of the things that we've done relate to the supplementary health benefits that I mentioned yesterday, so that's offering generics instead of biologic drugs, changing the dispensing fee regimen so that meds are dispensed 100 days at a time rather than every 30 days. And those are some specific examples of things that we're trying to do to contain costs. But at the end of the day, we are underfunded and the demand for additional services is...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to answer this question.

In this House this week, I've been asked for nursing student bursaries, fertility treatments, suicide prevention money. I've also been asked for HIV PREP, which is a preventative medication, and free contraception. That's the problem, Madam Speaker. The expectations of the health system are not commensurate with the amount of money that is provided to it.

What I want to say about the deficit is that it is top of mind for NTHSSA and for me as the Minister. We created the NWT health and social services...