Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, like I said in the House before, we haven't used agency nurses. We've been able to recruit, retain. You know, the salary of nurses hasn't changed. And so the other territories and provinces are starting to compete better. There's lots of different things that are in place that is challenging us to recruit. COVID, many people left the health care field. That is the biggest impact on our health care system. And we're still trying to recover from that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was able to meet with the Minister of Health. I attended the meeting, alongside two members from the Council of Leaders. We discussed the issues that related to the Northwest Territories. Agency nurse was one of them. This is a discussion that is continuing at the federal level, and there is a Ministers' meeting that will be happening I think in the fall time and that is, again, on that agenda. But I would just like to make also aware that right now in the Northwest Territories, we do only have five agency nurses, which are working in obstetrics right...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning I had the opportunity to meet with three individuals from the Canadian Cancer Society, and I'd like to recognize Andrea Sealy, the CEO, Angeline Webb and Fernanda Martens. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not prepared to make that commitment for the end of this sitting as the Member we all know how busy we are during sittings and trying to be able to come with a plan within the next two weeks to be able to come to the floor. But I will bring forward to the Assembly a report of the health and social services system human resource plan that concluded on March 31st, and I will also work to ensure that dialogue begins on the new human resource plan which sets out the course in this area for the next several years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I do see the potential is some of the work that we're doing, the employee satisfaction survey, we have just completed. We don't have the results yet, but a lot of that could help drive some of these changes that, you know, the Member might be talking about. While most care staff are represented by labour organizations such as UNW, NWT Medical Association, who also advocate on their behalf, I really appreciate the Member bringing this idea forward. And I have had discussions with the Minister of Finance, my colleague, on discussing this further with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will not commit to anything that would impact our patients' health. And so if there are ways to get around this that we can increase our staffing and our workflow and maybe the changes that we're making in obstetrics right now will help to better. But it's not just obstetrics, you know. There's other areas in our small communities that we are struggling to get health CHNs, so community health nurses. Those health centres shut down, it's going to impact those communities greatly. You know, so there's so many things that we need to look at before we just...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, I can say that we are changing the staffing model in obstetrics, which is being done to support the obstetric nurses as per some of the concerns that have been brought up over the years. And, Mr. Speaker, you know, when we talk about the cost that agency nurses have cost, the cost that it cost the government for closing down the obstetric unit for two months was $1 million. So if we were to close it down, that's 700 births in the Northwest Territories annually in the obstetrics unit in Yellowknife, those people would have to travel. Two months it cost us a...

Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify. The expansion of the midwifery service into Yellowknife has been proposed. Existing midwifery service in Fort Smith and Hay River are not affected. The health and social services system proposed this into Yellowknife but there has been years of recruitment and retention challenges in the Yellowknife midwifery area. Despite years of dedicated efforts, you know, advocacy, that we just there's just been a continuation of this. But I just want to make sure that, you know, the Members know, and the public know, in addition to this it's important to remember...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I hear the Member, and I know what the nurses get when they come onto shift. As a past nurse, I got shift report. The focus of the frontline nurse is to take care of their patients. You know, but they also need to know what the bigger picture is and that is what my understanding of the weekly emails and the manager's emails that are going to the staff, and if there's more information that they're requiring to do their job to take care of the frontline you know, to take care of the residents, you know, I'm always willing to bring that feedback...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every single time I meet with my DM or with the CEOs of the health authorities or the chair, the constant conversation is how are we supporting our staff. And so one of the things that, you know, I hear, you know, that they're not seeing their managers enough. The managers, you know, are tied up doing a lot of the stuff that they need to be doing with hiring and all of this other stuff. And so, you know, I think one of the things that I would like to do is, you know, the Member has invited me to a constituency meeting, you know, and, you know, I think as...