Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist positions in the riding, and the need for them. Can the Minister please tell us: how many service days does the department provide for the communities of Fort Simpson and Fort Liard in respect to speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist caseloads? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are 19 days allocated for speech-language pathology and OTs for the Deh Cho, and that's broken down as 10 for Simpson, and six for Providence and Fort Liard. That's site visits, daytime face-to-face meetings. This does not include weekly telehealth sessions with clients or intensive rehab sessions held at Stanton, where a client has to come in. These are also separate, just so we're all clear, these are separate from the numbers available for adults. These are for paeds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That's good information to hear. Can the Minister please tell us how many rehabilitation speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist caseloads people are on the waiting list for in the 2018-2019 fiscal year?
There is a wait list for the zero- to 18-year-olds for 2018-2019. There are 23 for OT and five for speech-language therapy. Of those, nine OTs are for children under five, and five speech-language therapy are for children under five.
I think I missed how many cases are out there, not the waiting lists, but I'll go on to my next question. It is my understanding that the department is not looking at placing a speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist position in the Deh Cho. Can the Minister explain how we are going to improve services in this area?
My apologies. I forgot to give the number for the caseload for rehabilitation services. For OT, it's 57 in the Deh Cho, and for speech, it's 85 in the Deh Cho. With respect to the follow-up question, we are working hard to support the demand for rehab services across the Northwest Territories. We are focusing on improving services delivered by the existing rehabilitation teams that exist. Additional resources have been allocated to the Beaufort-Delta in 2018-2019, and while we are proposing some additional investment into the Stanton team for 2019-2020, there have been significant new investments put in place. Over the past two years, we have increased the budget for rehab services by $2.02 million, and we've increased it by 13 positions. This is an increase of 33 percent in the budget in this area, taking us from $6.2 million to $8.6 million, and an increase of 21 percent in positions.
Currently, before the rollout in the Beaufort-Delta, the travel teams all worked out of the Yellowknife office, or the Yellowknife Stanton. Those travel days that were previously allocated to the Beaufort-Delta will now be reallocated to the South Slave, which includes Fort Smith, Hay River, and the entire Deh Cho region. With those reallocations and the creation of the positions at Stanton, we are actually anticipating an increase in the number of travel days, but also actual employment time, which can be done by telehealth to the Deh Cho, which will greatly increase the services in the Deh Cho. To that end, we're also looking at having the travel teams travel beyond just the locations they've been travelling to, which are Fort Providence, Fort Liard, and Fort Simpson, and actually including some of the smaller communities where the caseload demands it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for answering those three questions with good information, and I appreciate that. My last question: does Stanton have therapists who can provide specialized services for children with complex needs, and how does the region access these resources? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We do have speech-language pathologists and we do have OT for paeds. We also have the FASD and the ADS coordinator positions. All these positions can be accessed through referrals through their health providers in the communities. Obviously, we were out there trying to get the referrals done so that we can get these kids the supports and services they need. Regardless of where you are in the Northwest Territories, it still takes a referral to access any of our rehab services, regardless of where you live. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
