Merci, Madame la Presidente. I was so excited yesterday about Cabin Radio they turned me into a meme that I didn't get to my questions about midwifery for the Minister of health yesterday. So my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
My first question is, as we enter the final phase of implementation of a territorial midwifery program, what major actions remain to be done? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm happy to provide an update on the midwifery program. The major issue we have right now is with staffing. The Fort Smith program is now Monday to Friday because they're down two staff. We're also looking for a senior consultant in Yellowknife. So we're not fully staffed anywhere so it's difficult for us to move forward with the implementation program until that happens. Thank you.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. In her recent update to me by email, the Minister noted that for the territorial midwifery program, it's being guided by something called an implementation project charter. That's the first time I've heard of a charter outside of the actual strategy.
So can the Minister tell us when and how the charter was developed, including what involvement there was from stakeholders such as the Midwives Association of the NWT? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, a project charter is like a vision and mission statement. It sets out the project that is to be accomplished, breaks it down into timing, responsibilities and actions, and so on. The project charter for midwifery was created in 2021 to guide the work of implementation of the midwifery program. It's an internal document that employees refer to and measure their progress against. And while it wasn't developed specifically with external stakeholders, I'm sure the Member is aware that there was a very thorough public engagement on the question of midwifery in 2017, and the results of that engagement informed both the project charter and the implementation. Thank you.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that. I'd be interested in seeing the project charter at some point, but. And the Minister spoke of the difficulty in staffing these positions. So can the Minister tell us whether there's a recruitment and retention strategy for the territorial midwifery program or what special considerations are required as part of an overall health worker strategy to maintain midwifery? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Yes, thank you. We currently have two ads out for midwives. One that is for two midwives in Fort Smith, and one is for a senior consultant in Yellowknife. Those ads are open until filled. The one for the midwives in Fort Smith has been up for three weeks; the other one for Yellowknife has been up for one week. So midwives are included as people who can have the benefit of the labour market supplement recruitment and retention payments, as well as the other incentives that we introduced such as having friends and family coming to spend holidays with people who are working here. So I think our greatest challenge, really, is the same as it is for other health professionals, which is convincing them to make the Northwest Territories a longterm home so that we can provide stability and continuity in patient services. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Madame la Presidente. I want to thank the Minister for that, sincerely thank her because that was a lot of good news there and I hadn't heard all of that, so. But I think we need to start to think about evaluation of this moving forward as well. So how is the implementation working group and the project charter preparing for the essential task of gathering data and evaluating program effectiveness, including the engagement of stakeholders such as parents, staff, and advocates? Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to say that there is a performance measurement framework. It captures a broad range of activities that are part of the implementation plan for midwifery, and it adheres to the recommendations that were provided in the stakeholder engagement in 2017. So I am not sure when this first measurement framework will be complete and ready for the public to review, but that's certainly something I can provide as a followup. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
