Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services about medical travel services in Hay River. The Minister is well aware of the issues we face in Hay River and has committed to look into them. The last time I raised the issue in the House, he noted that Hay River is unique in the way the medical travel services are provided. That is probably good for the rest of the territory, but not so good for us. Basically, because the services are provided through a contract, the department has little control over delivery. So, since this has been identified as a problem, what has the department done to remedy it? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in September I indicated that we were going to look into this issue and try to make some improvements in Hay River. Since that time, we have done some analysis on how it is done. The Member is correct. It is the only place in the Northwest Territories where the service is provided by contract as opposed to being provided by the territorial health authority. As such, the contract is going to be expiring in March of this year. We are not going to be renewing the contract. We are going to be moving forward with creating a position in Hay River as part of the Territorial Health Authority to provide consistent quality medical travel services in Hay River and the surrounding area.
Not only is he addressing the issue; he is also creating a job in Hay River; well, I guess, a government job. He is taking one away, though, so I have to be careful what I say here. I appreciate that something is being done, but how can I assure my constituents that this change will actually result in an improvement in service delivery? Precisely why should we expect the Territorial Health and Social Services Authority to provide a better service than we are currently getting?
I think the Member actually answered some of his own questions in his preamble. Building upon the comments that the Member made, one of the advantages of having the territorial authority do this, as opposed to a contractor, is we'll be able to ensure that our people have the best training and are completely familiar with the processes and programs that are in place. Also, we have to recognize that people go on holidays, people are occasionally sick; people might want to, you know, go on training or other development. Currently if that happens we're not always guaranteed that the person who is going to be backfilling is trained. By being part of the Territory Health and Social Services Authority, if one of our persons were to leave or go on holidays or be sick, we know we've got a group of competent, fully trained staff who can backfill on a minute's notice in Hay River; which means they will always have quality people, competent and qualified people, with lots of backup to continue to provide services at all times.
I'm a little under the weather myself, today. It would be nice to have a bit of backup here. Because of the timelines involved -- I mean, I think it's end of March you said the contract is expiring -- will there be enough time to hire and train this new employee?
We are going to move forward as quickly as possible to staff that position, but we acknowledge that it may prove difficult to get somebody. We've gone out for competitions before for lots of different jobs and not been successful on the first round, so we want to err on the side of caution here. What we're going to do is, for the first couple of months, we're going to work with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, who is going to identify a person who can help us during the transition phase while we're out recruiting so that there is no gap in service. We also want to make sure that we have the best equipment and the appropriate equipment for our new person in Hay River to provide all the services. We want to make sure they're fully trained. So even after we hire them, they might not be full on-stream until we get them properly trained. So we figure this is going to take six months;, but there's going to be no gap in service, because we're working with Hay River to provide some temporary backfill in that area.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just to clarify, there will be a person physically in Hay River who people can go and see about their medical travel issues? Because I know sometimes, you know, with elders, it can be a little difficult if they have to speak over the phone, or those kinds of things. So I just want to confirm there will be a person who people can go see in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That's the plan, Mr. Speaker. Initially it will be somebody from the Hay River Authority. We're going to work on an agreement there. Our expectation is we're going to go out for staffing immediately and fill that position, get that person trained up. As for all medical travel, I mean, it is a nine-to-five job. There will be times when people do have to call, just so that we're clear that it's somebody always available 24/7. It's a nine-to-five job, there are some after-hours calls, and we'll be able to provide that support, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
