Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I had a longer Member's statement, I could probably talk for hours on this particular subject. But that said, there were a lot of concerns I did want raise and hence the question -- oral question period, sorry.
Mr. Speaker, one of the issues that was raised passionately about was being able to call for appointments, and the phone rings and rings and rings, finally takes a message, and it takes days for someone to reply if they reply. Some constituents have complained that no one even calls them back. Mr. Speaker, even my email to the Minister highlighting this took over five weeks to show up for a response what they're doing. So my question is is what is the Minister doing about the health care problems with respect to accessibility by calling in for appointments? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been on the books now and on the radar since -- you know, it's more -- it more happened more so when the lab changes happened that we do not have the technology within the hospital that allows for calls to be in queue and all that. And so there is work going on between -- NTHSSA is working with -- I think it's Infrastructure or TSC -- to ensure that this issue is being rectified. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, around the concerns of accessibility, when a person gets through or doesn't get through, they finally just show up and find out they can't get appointments for weeks or months. Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister doing again about in-person now accessibility to see a doctor? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I will, you know, take the Member -- and, you know, we've heard this in Yellowknife that this has been an issue, and we've just recently moved into the new building this summer and started the primary care clinic. There are going to be, you know, wrinkles that come out. As for appointments, you know, if there are -- I can bring this back to NTHSSA to find out further information or what's the wait times or how -- and I've had other people come and say the opposite saying that they are able to get appointments, they are able to get walk-in appointments. So I will follow up with the NTH SSA to see where we're at with waitlists or how long it is to get an appointment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'll certainly look forward to what I'm being told -- or sorry, looking forward to the Minister's response. And further to that question, the other issue is accessibility to their information, Mr. Speaker. So, of course, the Minister did say they've moved in there, but it's been five months.
The next problem of course is, as I said, accessibility of medical records. Patients aren't getting their records referred to south and they can't get the responses from their needs -- from their tests et cetera. So what can the Minister do to improve those rates, and does she track them? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, that level of information on record moving is very operational. And right now what we do know, and I have mentioned it in this house before, that our systems do not communicate with Alberta where a lot of our referrals go. So there is, you know, work going on right now to -- and I mentioned it in previous sessions that we are looking to upgrade the EMR, electronic medical records system, within the Northwest Territories. And with all of those options that have been raised by Members have been highlighted as things that we need to ensure that when we look to building a new electronic medical records system in the Northwest Territories that it's going to have all of those components in it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just quickly, another clinic in town here, you can dial in and get your records through the internet obviously. I'm old. I say dial, but stream. Mr. Speaker, the dental clinic does phone follow-ups and check-ins, Mr. Speaker. Why is the technology so available, Mr. Speaker? I want to know what the Minister is doing, what -- I want to know what the serious blockage is, why a dental office can do services the health care system can't do, why a local medical clinic can do services, again a billion-dollar department can't seem to manage. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do know that there is technology out there. It's how are we going to implement it across the Northwest Territories. And that is what we are -- that's why we are looking at the EMR. We're not just going to look at it in one section and in one region as that's what we've done in the past, and then they don't even talk together. So we have to look at it as how we're going to roll it out throughout the Northwest Territories. And in the meantime, you know, one of the other barriers is some of this technology has to go through these privacy issues, is it safe enough to use for health information. So, again, these are issues that arise when we -- even to try and have a booking system online, there's so many layers that have to make sure that there's going to be no breach to this system to breach private health records. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
