Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made my statement on the status of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services that affects my constituency. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Could the Minister explain what is the anticipated timeline for reinstating the board of management in the Deh Cho Health Authority? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We certainly had some discussions on the timeline on when we will go back to having a board of management. We need to do some consultation. There is some feeling by some Members in the Legislative Assembly that perhaps we could have some form of advisory board, but the plan is to have a board back in place within two years.
I’ve had this discussion with the newly appointed public administrator and he recognizes that his role there is to assist us in eventually bringing a board back in place for the Deh Cho Health and Social Services. Thank you.
It seems that there is going to be a wait period of two years until the board structured.
Within the current structure of the Deh Cho Health and Social Services, what assurances could the Minister provide that the level of public accountability to the residents of the Deh Cho will be held in highest regard, ensuring that the health care services will continue to be delivered at a scale that is fairly efficient and, at the same time, meets the needs of the public? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons we appointed a public administrator is that there are certainly some significant concerns with health and social services in the Deh Cho. We are hoping that we are correcting some of those concerns in Health and Social Services and also that the public administrator, along with our senior management, recognizes the need to consult throughout the whole process. I have agreed to do a full consultation with not only Members of the Legislative Assembly but the leaders within the various communities in the Deh Cho along with the public administrator. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are fairly significant initiatives happening within my riding, including one of the biggest projects to date is the construction of the health centre. I want to pose a question to the Minister how he sees the public accountability will be maintained, ensuring that projects like the health centre will continue to be held in the highest regard, ensuring that construction schedules will be maintained and also, at the same time, the local input from people’s concerns regarding the health care system will continue to be addressed and remedied. Mahsi.
Certainly the mandate of the department is to do the best possible job it can in introducing infrastructure into the community. The new health centre in Fort Providence is on schedule. We’re proceeding with that piece of infrastructure. The timelines that we are looking at prior to moving to a public administrator is the same timeline that we are looking at now, so there will be no change in that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister had indicated and stated that there will be a level of consultation preceding, more likely, the advancements towards the discussion of reinstituting the health board.
Can the Minister provide an update as to what it is that he will be consulting and the term of the consultation period before the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Board is reinstituted? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, we are hoping to have one meeting soon. Aside from community meetings, we're hoping to get the MLA from Deh Cho and also the MLAs from Hay River as it could involve the new health centre in Hay River to provide services on the reserve, and also the two public administrators from Hay River and Deh Cho along with the chiefs from Deh Cho to sit down and make sure we are moving in the right direction and that people are happy with the direction that we are going in. Any medical services, as an example, the Member indicated that people in Fort Providence may find it easy to draw their service directly from Yellowknife. That is something we would certainly consider when we consider medical services in the Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
