Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is currently some funds identified in the 2007-2008 budget to start that process. We have been working with the master plan development of Stanton and recognize that, before we should actually finalize the Stanton master plan, we should look at the consolidated clinic issue. So we are looking at putting resources into that for this coming business plan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is clearly a medical diagnosis that is made. If there is an emergency medevac that comes in from a community, clearly that person, since they required a medevac and have some significant medical condition, would be given immediate attention over and above somebody that may have walked in because they forgot to get a prescription filled or have some much more minor complaint. So there already is that type of assessment process that is done by the medical staff at Stanton. It applies to all of the people that come in through the door to make sure...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the reality is the social services professions are facing the same kinds of challenges in many cases as we are with allied health professionals. In fact, I just met with the Social Workers Association to talk to them about the extra efforts we are going to have to make to try to make sure that we ensure that we continue to have northern-grown social workers. We have graduated a class of about a dozen or so community wellness workers. But it is still not up to the demand of what is there in the field. We are facing very similar pressures on the social...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been working on the issue of wait times for some time now. We have added doctors. We are putting in a new OR system. We have added nurses. We are trying to get more OR nurses. We have in the plans a consolidated clinic in Yellowknife that is going to, we believe, take significant pressure off of the emergency ward in Stanton. When it is complete, it will allow access for the very many people inside and outside of Yellowknife that come to Yellowknife looking for services to be able to go into the clinic and get a lot of the basic testing and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's also a lot of things that are right in Stanton, and I think there is a lot of good work being done. I've committed to the Member from Range Lake that we will set up a process where there can be consultation with the front-line workers to get feedback unit by unit on issues that may be out there. We are addressing a lot of the issues. For example, the janitorial contract has recently been rewritten and the standards increased. That is in the works. So we continue to work on this on a regular basis. This is not only a staffing review that's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has an obligation to raise the issues with his constituents, and my responsibility as Minister is to look at that and make sure that we respond to circumstances and to issues in a very measured and careful way. We are doing that. I've committed to the Member for Range Lake that we would have an outline of how we intend to proceed to honour the commitment to have the staff consulted in a free and open environment where they could get full feedback, and we would provide the preliminary feedback that we are getting within two weeks. So it's within that time...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am aware that the Member has been in contact as well with the CEO of the Inuvik Health and Social Services Authority with these specific questions. I can commit to the Member that I can hand him that specific information. I haven’t seen any copies of any replies that the Member may have received, so I will commit to the Member that I will have the information for him for the start of session tomorrow morning.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will give it to the Member before the start of the House tomorrow with information on each of those positions and the status of where they may be in the hiring process, recognizing that I know the importance of this. The Member is talking about this, and I will commit to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the majority of the recommendations were followed up on. I've asked the department to dig out the last report that was done in terms of reporting on that particular consultant's documents. I'd just like to point out as well that, yes, there are some issues that continue to be of great concern at Stanton, but we've also made significant investments and progress in the services there and I don't believe that they are the same, as extreme as they were back in 2001. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we did a review of all hospital facilities across the Northwest Territories, we worked with Dr. Peache and the medical association to look at do we have the appropriate mix of doctors, not only Stanton but in all the other health facilities that have doctors. As we were doing that, it quickly became clear that we also needed a similar kind of review done with the nursing complement as well in Inuvik, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River and Simpson. So that review is looking at all those particular facilities to make sure that the mix is right for the...