Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was hoping the Minister of Health and Social Services could tell me which procedures or services we presently track the wait times for and which we don't. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're very interested in tracking wait times because it is a tangible measurement of how quickly the system is providing services to those people in need. We, however, do not track every possible program and service for a variety of reasons that aren't very interesting because they mostly have to do with software and data collection.
But having said that, we do track and report on wait times for longterm care placements, home care services, community counselling, rehab services, and colonoscopies. And some individual clinics are also posting wait times in the clinic. So there are some places that people can find this online. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suspect it's the boring explanation "due to software" that I am most interested in, Mr. Speaker. I note, on that list, was a very short list of services we're tracking wait times for and did not include a number of procedures and surgeries which is where I get most of my constituent complaints. I'm just wondering if there is any work to be done to create some sort of dashboard where that information is available publicly. I know this is done across all the provinces in Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Member in his statement referenced a knee replacement that took a number of years to accomplish. I don't think that we track those wait times for those major joint surgeries, and I know the time is variable. You can put yourself on a waitlist and get within a few months, or you can end up waiting years. I don't know how hard it is to track that kind of information so that's something I would have to take back to the department and inquire about.
There is some information online which I want to bring to the Member's attention.
Home care wait times are available at yourhealthsystem.ca.
The community counseling wait times are on the same website.
Longterm care times are in the Department of Health and Social Services annual report.
Wait times for colonoscopies were in the most recent business plan.
And we are trying to develop a methodology for reporting on rehab services, and this is a commitment in the fouryear business plan, which we dealt with last year.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, I would appreciate the Minister getting back to the House with information on how or what software we need to do this. I know we are purchasing a new electronic medical records system which will cost millions of dollars. And I guess I wanted to also know, as I mentioned in my statement, when we did the vaccine roll out, the software, however we got it, was great. I think everyone who could book online and could see their appointments and get reminders was very happy with that software but I'll note, with perhaps the exception of occupational therapy and physiotherapy, no similar software is being used for any health services, and is that something we could look into. The department has actually flagged this before, that people missing appointments is a significant cause of their wait times and backlogs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said, this kind of tracking is important to us so that we have a full understanding of how long it is taking to meet people's needs for services in these areas. There are some limitations, as the Member referenced, to our electronic medical records system at this time. It's going to be retired in the 20232024 period, and it's going to be replaced with something that is going to be superduper, I hope. And it's going to be able to have an online patient portal. It's going to have all kinds of different ways to report things such as those that the Member has inquired about so that we have a full set of dashboards for people to see. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Oral Question 850-19(2):
Merci, Monsieur le President. I'm going to go to a different superduper Minister with my questions, and they're for the Minister of Infrastructure who has responsibility for the Arctic Energy Alliance.
Can the Minister tell us whether she's aware of the difficulties caused by the federal energy pre and postaudit requirements under the Canada Greener Homes Grant program, and what is she doing to fix that problem? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social sorry, Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this superduper Minister will answer two questions that I just heard. Yes, we are aware of the issue, and the GNWT and the Arctic Energy Alliance were not consulted before the federal program was put in place. We have made the federal government aware of our concerns with this program. While we do not have the ability to change the requirements set under a federal program, we will continue to engage with Natural Resource Canada towards a mutuallyacceptable solution to this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I think that was a yes, and good work. I appreciate that, thank you.
So can the Minister tell us, though, whether her department is working with other provincial and territorial jurisdictions to change this unnecessary federal program requirement of pre and post energy audits. Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the issue was raised with Natural Resource Canada by various jurisdictions throughout the intergovernmental energy efficient working groups, and we have spoken with the other jurisdictions in Canada about this problem, and there is a common concern, as the Member mentioned. We will continue to engage with Natural Resource Canada to be able to look at a solution to this problem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Merci, Monsieur le President. While I'm on a role, I got two, I'm going to keep going. So while the pre and postaudit requirements are a problem, the other one is a lack of certified auditors to carry out the audits, the energy audits, and the cost of training monitors. What steps is the Minister taking to help increase the number of energy auditors, and is any additional funding being provided to Arctic Energy Alliance to help fix this problem? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there is a national shortage of energy auditors. We recognize that. We are currently training more energy auditors internally for the Northwest Territories. We now have two certified auditors and two more in training. This should be adequate to meet our needs, but efforts are continuing to build additional capacity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. Well, I guess all good streaks have to come to an end, but I appreciate the work that the Minister's doing on this, and Arctic Energy Alliance as well, but they may need some more money to help get this working a little better.
As a result of these energy audits, though, money I think is being left on the table for NWT homeowners and they could be using that to increase energy efficiency, save money, and combat climate change. What Arctic Energy Alliance energy retrofit funds have been lapsed over the last five years as a result of the inability to complete projects under the current energy audit requirements and other limitations? Merci, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I heard the Member's asking for what funds have been lapsed through the programs here. And I just want to say that there were no funds lapsed as a result of any energy audit requirements. Only one Arctic Energy program requires an audit, and it's the Deep Home Energy Retrofit program. And we are able to prioritize those clients for audits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
