Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier in my Member's statement here on the new system coming into place for the health and healthcare services reform, I understand that the territorial and regional councils have met and I'm just wondering if the Minister could elaborate? Taking into account it's only been nearing three months of operations, what can we expect for the remainder of this fiscal year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the single authority went live here in the Northwest Territories earlier this year. Since that time we've had an opportunity to bring the different council members, the Regional Wellness Council members into Yellowknife for some training and orientation into the new system.
They've all then gone back to the communities, the chairs have come together and have held their first board meeting, if you will, then there has been some of the communities, regions, have actually already had some regional wellness council meetings. The CEO is travelling to those often with the Chair of the Territorial Board to provide some orientation upfront.
I had an opportunity to meet with the Chair of the Territorial Authority last week, and he indicated that he's got a real interest in getting out to the communities, meeting with people, meeting with the Regional Wellness Councils and working with them to focus some of the priorities within their individual regions. Mr. Speaker, this is still a growing phase, we're still in the learning phase, and we're looking forward to continuing to roll forward and make changes in the best interest of clients with a focus on clients throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I know that would at least support the new administration after hearing a number of frontline concerns there on how to better improve our system, mostly in particular the area of service, travel and coordinated travel. Can the Minister elaborate, are we going to get regional referral coordinators back into the regions like we once had?
I'm not sure that I actually understand the question, I'm not familiar with the referral coordinators the Member is referring to. Is the Member referring to something related to medical travel or something else? I'm not sure.
Can I expect, for the Sahtu region, a regional medical travel coordinator to make travel arrangements and accommodations arrangements for patients from the Sahtu?
Mr. Speaker, one of the advantages of coming together as a single authority here in the Northwest Territories is when there are vacancies in different regions or communities some of the other communities and regions can stand up. It was my understanding that there was an individual once upon a time responsible for some medical travel coordination in the Sahtu. I'm not aware of whether or not that position was eliminated. I will have to get back in touch with the department and the authority to find out what is the actual status in the Sahtu, and I will commit to getting that information for the Member.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question. I'm very glad to hear that the Minister's going to be cooperative. We all have the heart of reform, better care, and to approve efficiencies where we can. So I look forward to hearing from the Minister on progress reports on the operations of the coordinated travel for any of the members or the senior members going to the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'll take that as a comment, but I'll allow the Minister to answer if he wishes.
Mr. Speaker, as the House is aware, we are doing some review of our medical travel policies here in the Northwest Territories with a focus on improving the results for our clients as they travel. I've made a commitment to getting that information to Members and I'll continue to provide the Members with updates.
I will say that now that we have moved to a single authority there's a real ability to consolidate and figure out how we can work together as a system to provide our residents a more seamless medical travel experience, and we're looking forward to seeing some positive results coming out shortly as a result of that.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
