Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, this time last year when I spoke to the Minister about rehabilitation services, including speech language pathology, the Minister advised that health recently organized the delivery of speech services to focus on children from birth to five years of age. How has this change impacted service delivery in the last year, and how has it changed wait times for speech language pathology. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for that question. So last year we did reorganize services on the basis that the service provided within the schools is advisory and not therapy. The service provided within the clinics is therapy. And we prioritize the youngest children for that therapy so that they have the best success when they do begin school. Having said that, we have had and continue to have significant staff vacancies in both the inschool and the occupational therapy services. And so as a result, they were reduced for this school year. In school, consultative services will be maintained for students with priority needs, and those are primarily students under five years of age and students with complex needs. So we've added a number of new positions in the Delta and at Stanton with the hope of not only the hope but the intention of reducing the average wait time of what we're going for is reduction of an average wait to less than two months. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned that the current service model focuses on primarily on children that are birth to five years of age. And we know that typically at about age six children age out of the system, and the model that sorry. They switch to a consultation model at age six. So given the impacts of COVID19, is Health and Social Services looking to increase or remove this ageout limit to increase access to services in our community schools and that includes in Yellowknife here. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're not looking at making that change.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given that there is a national shortage of speech language pathologists, is health working with ECE to create a hybrid model of partnerships, resident speech language pathologists, and communitybased paraprofessionals to provide the much needed ontheground support in our community schools. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member knows, NTHSSA and the department do work collaboratively with ECE in this area. And in the next fiscal year, the department is preparing for a review specifically of the speech language pathology services to understand the current service gaps and identify opportunities to improve services. And that work will include NTHSSA, Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, the Tlicho Community Services Agency, and ECE. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last year I asked that the wait times for rehabilitative services like OT, PT, and speech be publicly reported. The Minister shared an interest in advocating for greater transparency of wait times. So can the Minister share any updates on if and when this type of reporting will be available in real time like an online dashboard. Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have a highlevel service dashboard that is available online, but it doesn't drill into the level that the Member is asking for. And so I will follow up with her to give her specific times for Inuvik, Stanton, and Fort Smith. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
