Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question for the Minister of Health is related to my Member's statement. Does the Minister of Health have any financial assessment comparables for the cost of preventable measures like homecare and home support with daily extended hours, compared to building more structures for elders in regional centres and staffing them? If so, can they be provided? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a timely question in that we have just completed a home and community care review for the Northwest Territories. We received the full final report on September 16th, which includes 22 recommendations. These recommendations are currently being prioritized by the staff; however, I can tell you that we also included research from other jurisdictions. The information in the review supports that, by investing in home and community care, there is potential to divert some costs related to long-term care. This is a priority for the department and, drawing from the experience in other jurisdictions, we are continuing to assess what this may mean for the Northwest Territories.
I look forward to providing more details to the Member as we conclude this work. We will have the review and our responses to the recommendations available for the MLAs for the next session, and we look forward to the opportunity to provide a briefing to the interested Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In relation to my Member's statement, as well: will the Minister of Health commit to providing after-hour and weekend services to clients in Inuvik by having their department look at ways to have possibly evening and day shift work throughout the week?
I agree that there is a need to look at how services and the home and community care programs are being delivered, including the hours of service. When the home and community care review was conducted, one of the purposes of the review was to look at the consistency in how services are delivered across the Northwest Territories, as well as if there are any gaps in the program and services. There are recommendations from the review that do speak to exploring the feasibility of expanding hours of services. We will be working with the health and social services authorities to determine how we can move this recommendation forward, including which communities will be our priority based on current needs.
I am just looking to see if the Minister will commit to looking at what it would cost, also, and maybe it's part of this plan, to bring our residents back to the NWT to be cared for here at home, as well.
As I noted earlier, our goal is to support elders and those with disabilities to live in their homes and their communities. It's never our goal to have someone leave their home or community; however, we all know that there are times when the care may become so complex that we need to consider other options for care for our clients. We have a number of residents who have had to relocate outside the Northwest Territories to receive care that has exceeded our ability to provide. Many of these individuals are living in what we call a "supportive living" setting.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to the last comment that she made, the supported living, within this new report, hopefully, they are looking at supportive living in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is our ability, to have a look at that, and I will get back to the Member with any progress on the review. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
