Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to follow up on my Member’s statement. My Member’s statement was on the Community Health Nurse Development Program and the confusion that exists out there with respect to its current status. Does it exist? Has it been eliminated? What is going on? My question is for the Minister. What is the status of the Community Health Nurse Program? Does it exist or has it been eliminated? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The program continues. We continue to support the program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, that is good. What does that mean? From what I understand, there has been no intake in that program for the last year at least. There is, as far as I know, no planned intake. As far as I know, my research shows that there is only one person enrolled in the program and they are coming to an end very soon. I am glad to hear that it is continuing, but what does that mean? Is there going to be a new intake? Are we going to put some more people in the program? This is a great program for transitioning hospital-based nurses into community health centres. The numbers show that it has been very successful to date.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Member. This is a very important program, but like any other programs, it has to work within the existing budget. It went over budget by quite a bit, so our approach right now is to support students that are already there. We are spending $750,000 this year. We will bring in new intake as the budget allows.
Mr. Speaker, I have to say that I am very confused. Like I said before, I understand that there is only one person enrolled in this program. That certainly can’t possibly be costing us $750,000. If there is $750,000 set aside for the Community Health Nurse Program and there is one person in it, how are spending that money? It seems a little odd.
Mr. Speaker, I will get back to the Member on the details of where that budget is being allocated. The Member should know that there is a lot of cost associated with having a CHN. It is a very important program, but it needs a partnership from the authorities and mentors and extra costs in supporting a student through the program. I will undertake to get back to the Member on the breakdown of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am well aware of the costs associated with running an individual through the program. I know the program covers a portion of the salary, but it also covers some training O and M. But I guarantee you it is not $750,000 for one nurse. If there is only one nurse in the program, I see no reason why we can’t have any intake on that program immediately. I would like the Minister to commit to reviewing the program and if there is only one employee or one nurse enrolled in the program, I want her to commit to having an intake immediately to put some people in that program.
The program works, Mr. Speaker. It has been successful and it gets nurses in communities, and 14 out of the 20 are still there today and six of those are indigenous aboriginals. It works. Make it happen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the department and the government is doing a lot of work to put our nurses through our various training programs. We just direct appointed a number of nurses. We support nurses going through this program.
Mr. Speaker, this year’s budget for the CHN Program, we have a contract with Aurora College for $460,000 and we spent $350,000 in salary subsidy for CHNs in their second year program. It is important that we support them through their programming, and we will be interested in taking on new students, but we need to make sure that we have the budget in place to support them.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to let the Member know that we support this program. I support this program, but it would be irresponsible for us to not pay attention to the budget. Mr. Speaker, I think we agree on the point that we support this program. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
