Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is to the Minister of Health and Social Services following up on my Member's statement. Can the Minister of Health give us an update on the new system that took place effective August 1st on the Territorial and Regional Wellness Councils which came in effect last summer? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has indicated, the Territorial Health Authority has gone live. All the Regional Wellness Councils are in place. We've conducted training throughout the Northwest Territories with different members of the Regional Wellness Councils, including the chairs who formed the Territorial Authority. There have been meetings at the Territorial Authority level with the board, meetings with the Regional Wellness Councils at the local level, as well as training, like I said, across the Northwest Territories.
It's up and running. We're getting good feedback from the Regional Wellness Council members and we're looking to continue to enhance services across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I welcome that response from the Minister. Since they're established, Mr. Speaker, what are the changes that were given to date since the operation took effect?
Maybe I can get the Member to ask the question again. The changes that have taken place across the Northwest Territories with respect to the provision of health and social services in a single authority are pretty massive. There's job reorganization, design structure, there have been a lot of staffing actions to move people into the single authority. We've done our best to make sure that, you know, we haven't lost any of our front line provisions, but we are seeking, and continue to seek, input from our Regional Wellness Councils on local design.
There's a significant amount that's happened, and I don’t think an hour is enough time to outline all the things that are happening at the authority, so is there something specific the Member is looking for?
With respect to local design, as mentioned, will the Minister commit to working with the Sahtu, the stakeholders, and the Regional Wellness Council, the administration, and leadership in general to hold a strategic conference on updating the strategic plan that was done on 2014 and expired in 2016?
The Territorial Board, the Health Board, which consists or chairs from all the Regional Wellness Councils, has actually been working on the development of a strategic plan for the Health and Social Services system. From that strategic plan all the Regional Wellness Councils would be expected to then in turn develop some plans at a local or regional level for the delivery of services and the required tailoring and adjustments made at a regional level.
That work is part of the work that they're doing. It's part of the mandate of the authority. I think the Member is asking for a larger, broader meeting to take place with other stakeholders. It's certainly something that interests me, but I would certainly need to get more detail on what the Member is thinking of, and I would suggest that maybe the Member and I should sit down with maybe some stakeholders from the Sahtu to figure out exactly what we're talking about here so we can determine if this is something that we can actually move forward with.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I welcome that scheduled consultation dialogue back and forth so we can have a clear understanding what the move-forward procedures are and the targets. My final question to the Minister is: can the Minister's office provide us with the schedule so we can have that prior to scheduling a meeting with his office, and that's between my office and his, to discuss next-step procedures? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to have my staff talk to the Member's staff in order to coordinate a date where we can have this conversation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
