Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have asked the Minister before about this, what the transition plan is for these services while old Stanton is being remodelled, and so on. The Minister seemed to be reading from some sort of list, and then he hasn't been briefed on this for a bit. Can the Minister then commit to give that information to committee, or at least what the current state of knowledge is on these services that are currently within the old Stanton and what is going to happen with them during the transition, and maybe a timeline that would go along with that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can provide a list, or the Member could read Hansard. I have just listed off all the services that are going to be in the old Stanton building. The only ones that are going to sort of need to be relocated because they don't exist in there now are extended care, physio, occupational therapy. The rest of them don't exist in the building now, so they won't be affected. We will be looking for temporary lease space to accommodate us during the retrofit of the old Stanton building. I don't know what that location is yet. That lease hasn't been let. I couldn't tell the Member what that location is going to be because it hasn't been selected yet. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I am looking for more than just a list, something like a Gantt chart that shows each of the services, where they are going to be located where that is known, and the timing over the transition period. I guess that is what I really want to know. I think, as we get closer to when that transition happens, the public is going to need to know that information, as well. Can the Minister commit to give us that kind of information? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we will provide some level of detail, recognizing that it hasn't all been finalized at this point. We are over a year out of this type of thing even starting. We are doing initial work. We are figuring those types of things out. I am happy to provide the Member with additional information as I become aware. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I understand this is in flux, but I am getting some questions about this. It is for members of the community, as well. I think we need to ramp up our communications as we get closer to that transition time, as well. I will just leave it at that. I understand the Minister has made the commitment. He will give us more information. I understand it is still in flux, but we need to start to think about how we are going to communicate this with the public, as well. That is all I have on this section. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Any closing comments on that line of question? Nothing from the Minister. I have no one further on my list. I will call this activity. Diagnostic and therapeutic services, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $26,103,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. The next activity begins on page 189, nursing inpatient services. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. In regard to this here, I think there is one on page 190. Is this the section where we talk about chemotherapy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I spent a significant amount of my life standing in front of an incredibly loud speaker. I didn't have the microphone in my ear. Rock and roll kills. Can I get the Member to repeat that question?
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
I can't hear you. I think I was listening to hard country music, so my hearing is going, too. I wanted to ask you about chemo. Is this the section on it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sure. Yes. Nursing touches all areas. Nurses are involved in chemo. Yes, let's do it here. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I will allow the Member to pursue this line of questioning. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess this is going to be the area where I am going to go with it. We have heard about chemo, the treatment here being changed and to update our staff. Now we are looking into April, from the last thing I have seen in the news in here. Can the Minister please provide us an update on exactly where we are going on it? Because I have a number of constituents who have to make the trip to Edmonton. They are concerned. They would like to be able to do it here. Can the Minister please provide us an update on the status in this area? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, to start off, I just want to be very, very clear. Not all residents of the Northwest Territories who require chemo have received care or chemo in the Northwest Territories. Many of our residents have always gone south for chemo, depending on the nature of the cancer, the type of treatment they receive. We did provide chemo services in the Northwest Territories, in Stanton in particular, for certain types of cancer and certain types of treatment.
Since we have come to a single authority, we have been reviewing operations and delivery of services in different areas. We did have a review done of our chemo services here in the Northwest Territories. When that review was done, there were a number of recommendations on how to make improvements to Stanton; better training, some other operational things, some current modern standards. This field is changing all the time. We need to be able to keep on top of it.
As a result of the recommendations, there was a decision made that the best way, the quickest way to get this work done would be to actually temporarily shut down the chemo unit. That would allow us to do the training. The other day, in oral questions, I went through some of the detail on the types of training that are happening. There is some onsite training, book-learning-type stuff, and then there is some clinical practice in Alberta that our staff are going down to participate in and then some practice so that they can consolidate learning.
There are a number of things that are happening. We decided it was best to shut down; send our staff to where they are going to get the best training possible; work on our guideline; make sure that our guidelines are remaining current, remaining fresh; have the mechanism to update appropriately. In that time, we also recognize this is actually an opportunity for us to refresh some of our equipment that we are using in the chemo unit.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I understand that chemotherapy, depending on the cancer, goes back and forth, you know, down to Alberta. I guess, fortunately or unfortunately, my constituents who seem to have it were able to do it in Yellowknife. That was the big thing, as they recognized the service that was here was great. They said nothing but positive stuff about it. Then when they went down to Edmonton, they didn't see any difference. They didn't see any difference in service and that. They were informed that it was going to January; now, we're looking into April, so when can the department say firmly that we're going to have the service back here in the Northwest Territories? Is April going to be it? I guess we just need a true deadline. When is it going to be happening? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, when we shut down, we indicated that we were hoping to be back late January or early February. We're working really closely with the Cross in Alberta to make sure that what we're providing is as high-quality as possible. I'm happy to hear that some of our residents felt that there was no difference between the two. I've also heard personally from Members who think that there was a significant difference. That doesn't matter. What matters is we need to make sure we're providing high-quality services to our residents. We're going to work with the Cross. We're hoping and targeting in April, but barring any unforeseen changes that we can't predict now, that's what we're targeting for, is late April.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for that answer. Again, I can speak on what I've been told. I just have to tell you what I've been told. The praise from the constituents who have gone out for the treatment didn't come here. They've been very supportive of it. If you can pass on the message to the staff and say that they're going out and getting the training and tell them they're doing a great job and that. When you talked about replacing the equipment, was it a huge cost to be replacing this, or is this going to be a capital item that we will be seeing in the fall? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're getting a proposal from the NWTHSSA right now on what they think it's going to cost to upgrade some of the equipment. I will certainly pass along through the deputy and the CEO the support that the Member has given for our staff. I agree. We have amazing staff doing amazing things, and I don't think anybody should think that the problem we have or the improvements we're trying to make are based on the quality of the staff. It's policies. It's procedures. It's guidelines. We need to make sure that we are always offering our employees the training that helps them be as good as they can be as far as meeting program needs. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. With NWTHSSA getting the quotes back to the department, is that information going to be shared with committee? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Sure, absolutely. Once we get it and we have an idea of what the cost is, and what we will actually be purchasing, and what we won't be purchasing, I'll be happy to share that with committee.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. I guess my last question, I hope, is just in regard to the communication strategy that we're going to get out there. Does the department have a communication strategy going forward and that we're able to share with the constituents out there? I mean, again, I think the Minister has heard some of the concerns. Previous people were saying, "Why are we doing this and that?" When we are going to be doing these enhancements, are we able to communicate this information and it's just not going to be confidential? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, quite honestly, our first priority has really been the patients who were affected, and helping them understand what's changed and make sure that they are getting the care that they need. As we get closer to rolling out, we'll certainly be rolling out some information on what's changed and what's improved so that residents are informed. That will absolutely go to committee, as well.
Thank you. Mr. Thompson, your time has expired. Anything further from committee on nursing inpatient services? Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I noticed on page 190 that the actual expenditures here are lower on the previous year. I'm just wondering, this is probably the section where overtime for nursing at Stanton would be part of this budget. Is that correct? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Overtime for front-line nurses would be in here, yes. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for confirming that. What are we doing about overtime? Because that continues to be a problem in terms of burnout of our nursing staff and additional costs and so on. What is the department doing to try to deal with that situation? Thank, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department has certainly been making the authority aware of the fiscal challenges that we're having and the demands that the authority is putting on us financially. Right now, we know that we're running about a $60 million deficit. We know that's going to increase. One of the major, well, I wouldn't call it the major driver, but certainly one of the drivers is overtime. The territorial authorities, CEO, board chair, board, and senior management have had a number of discussions about what they need to do to help control these costs. To make sure that they, frankly, control these costs, they need to understand these costs. They're trying to do an analysis on where they're bleeding on the overtime so they can make some informed decisions. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for that. Yes, I recognize this is not something that perhaps the department itself can control, other than perhaps in sending some service standards and making sure that the health authorities have the resources that are needed to carry that out. The Minister said that there is some study or something being done. Is that by the department or by the Stanton? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
