Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today, I want to focus on the issue of health services and services that fall under the purview of the health authority in Hay River.
I want to talk about doctors’ contracts, what we’re going to do about the vacancy in our CEO position, how the budgeting for our renovation and replacement of our hospital is coming along and also what’s on the horizon for staffing and programming at the assisted living facility which is under construction. I’ve given the Minister a heads-up on all that.
As to the contract for doctors, how long has it been since we’ve had a contract in the NWT with which the health authorities can go out and recruit physicians?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, the contract is currently in place, and that contract will be in place until such time as it’s replaced by another. We know there are negotiations underway, and we don’t want to speak about anything to do with that. But, yes, be assured that we have a working contract, and all recruitment and retention of doctors is being conducted under that contract.
I understand that contract has been in place for some time now, and potentially, when the new contract is negotiated, some aspects of it will make it easier to recruit more physicians to the Northwest Territories.
As I said in my Member’s statement, our CEO has recently resigned. That always causes some instability. It creates an environment that’s not so good in a small health authority like Hay River’s. What is the plan for replacing the CEO in Hay River?
I can tell you that from the information I have, the CEO has chosen to leave his post for personal reasons. He has enjoyed being in Hay River, and he has done a good job in delivering services there.
I don’t want to get into too much detail in this setting, but Hay River seems like it’s a destination of choice for others, for people who want to work there. I look forward to having the public administrator going down to Hay River and having more discussion on what’s in the plan, as well as keeping the Members informed.
We do have some ideas about how to address that, details I really don’t want to be speaking about in this forum. We do want to have input from the community and inform the community and the Members.
I was hoping that just being able to put something on the record about that today would bring some comfort to the people who work in the authority, who are, of course, always going to welcome the leadership that a CEO brings to an institution like that.
I was wondering if we could get an update from the Minister on how we’re doing on the development plan for the upgrading or replacement of the Hay River Hospital.
I just want to say that the Hay River people should not be too concerned about transition and succession. I think we are far from that. There are a number of possibilities.
The second thing is, as well as the essential surgery that’s being done, mammography service started on Monday for Hay River, which is new. On Thursday the master development plan, or redevelopment plan, of Hay River…. We have contracted a health planner, and they have the contract as of March ’08. The final plan is to be completed by December, and they will work through the new planning process we have.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you. Then just the last item. The assisted living facility is looking very nice; it’s nearing completion. Now we’re interested in staffing and programming. Is the staffing for that new facility going to be with GNWT employees, and where are we with the programming of the officer in that new facility?
We expect the facility to be open in December. The community of people who work with persons with disabilities in Hay River are overseeing that work through a committee.
We have not finalized the staffing model yet, because we’re going through the budgeting process with the Building Our Future Strategic Initiative Committee. Those monies have to be approved for staffing. I look forward to working through that process with the Member and keeping the Members advised of the details.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
