Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And hopefully I can get to two sets of questions; we'll see how it goes, that would be great. My questions right now are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Will the Minister look into legislating nurse-to-patient ratios following the BC model? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the minimum nurse-to-patient ratio are best addressed through the standards of practice that are more easily changed rather than through legislation, which is a similar approach being taken with BC but they are using a policy directive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, I'll modify my question. Will the Minister look at a policy change that would increase nurse-to-patient ratios following the BC model? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department is working to improve nurse-to-patient ratios right now in long-term care. However, due to nursing shortages it's important that we use realistic numbers because our staffing levels change so much in the Northwest Territories. And I just want to make sure that it's clear that nurse-to-patient ratios are already in place. This is why when we don't have enough staff, we can't perform essential tasks and sometimes we need to reduce services or temporarily close units because of a matter of patient safety. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister look at increasing staffing and beds at Stanton? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NTHSSA has informed me and the Department of the increase in volume and acuity of patients in Stanton. The thought was that, you know, the -- after COVID, we would go back to pre-COVID in-patient, but what we're seeing are sicker patients and the acuity of these patients. And I understand since 2023, the number of patients has been steadily increasing. That's put pressure on the in-patient and emergency departments. It's led to longer wait times for patients, and it's significantly increasing the work staff load.
I also committed in this House in February that I would not decrease staffing in critical areas affected by the end of COVID funding where we will review the need for resources to ensure patient care and manageable workloads. And this work is underway and will be reviewed to determine how we can ensure services are available.
So I do hear the Member and I do hear the concerns from the staff that, you know, they are working, the staff load -- I mean, the workloads are -- the patients are sitting in emerg, they're not moving to units, they're sitting in Hay River, in Inuvik, and they're not moving. So we've got some work to do in this area. So I just want the people and the Members to know that this is being looked at. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Great Slave.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister implement an urgent care walk-in service for four hours per day? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the work is underway to make changes to the way we deliver primary care in Yellowknife with the goal of improving access. We've heard this from Members in the last sitting. While I will not commit to a specific walk-in clinic, I can assure the Members that we are working to improve access to the primary care in Yellowknife as well as other region as a priority as we know that we are opening up the new clinic in the Liwego'ati Building, which the downtown primary care clinic, and all of these accounts, like, when I talk about staffing workloads in the hospital, we also have to -- I want to, like, try to educate the public as well as they don't always have to go into the hospital. There is 8-1-1. That is a service that is -- so people can know if they need to go in. There's a nurse 24 hours a day that they can call 8-1-1. But they're also welcome to go in. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Deh Cho.
