Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, we will be having -- offering a briefing to standing committee within the early first quarter of the next fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NTHSSA and the department, you know, they work closely together and they work with their partners with the medical association on, you know -- and I'll highlight an article today that the medical association is doing a lot of things that they feel that they can try to, you know, work with their staff; however, turnover in physicians throughout the Northwest Territories, historically, you know, has happened but this, again -- and I highlight this is not something that is isolated to the Northwest Territories. This is something that my colleagues, health...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have that level of detail. I do know that they have their processes and if they are an intoxicated individual, they -- whether they know they have a room somewhere else, I don't know how they work with the shelters within the network of Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, primary care, as I mentioned in this House many times, takes a wholistic approach to healthcare system transformation. And it is not a one size fits all. And so there is not a costed plan as to this is what it's going to be in the Northwest Territories A, B, C. It is what are we working within our communities? We are doing the assessments as we're rolling out into the different regions. So Yellowknife's primary care reform, yes, it does have these issues that have been raised in this House. We're finding that, you know, in Fort Smith, we've heard a few...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I did send a letter to the social development committee offering a briefing on primary care reform. And so I'm hoping to be able to have a lot of that discussion and the Member's question to be answered in that briefing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I can't commit to a review on a specific topic, I can commit to reviewing approaches to specialized health services as part of the larger system sustainability work that's underway. The Department of Health and Social Services and EIA are in partnership with the health sustainability unit, and Members are aware that this work is taking place to establish an inventory of core and insured services, and type of specialized mental health services could be considered as part of this work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the solutions that we are doing is we are actually doing the health sustainability system review. We need to find out what our core systems are and the dollars that we are getting in that -- you know, and if there's changes to our system that are going to support our core programs to make them more robust and to be able to do the things that we need to do to attract more physicians or health care workers within the system, we need to get that work done. That is the big part of the work that needs to get done because we have a system that is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, the health and social services does operate the sobering day shelter which acts as an emergency shelter at night; however, there are many other facilities in Yellowknife that are NGOs that run their facilities. Those things that I don't have as most of the shelters do not fall under just the shelter -- the sobering centre. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Health and Social Services that does oversee this temporary day shelter, they do have policies; however, I don't have those policies in front of me to be able to go through them and respond to that question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the primary care reform is a long-term commitment, and it'll take time and engagement, and it is something that is ongoing as it's been -- right now we've implemented it into Yellowknife, Fort Smith, and Fort Good Hope. And so as we start to expand, you know, we will continue to have these discussions with public throughout the primary care reform. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.