Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, in 19th Assembly on June 1st, 2022, Motion 5419(2) called on the government to improve health care in the small communities. I want to ask the new Minister of Health and Social Services what has been done since that time to improve health care in the small community? Thank you.
Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for that question. Mr. Speaker, you know, we've heard in this House many times from many members, especially the representatives from the small communities, on health care in the small communities and, you know, we were we're going not just the Northwest Territories but Canada has been struggling with health care service providers, getting hiring permanent nursing, permanent doctors, so I think that there has been some work done. And I've mentioned this, you know, working with the paramedics in the small communities when needed to make sure that there's access to care. There's been the launch of the 811 service across the territory 24/7 over the phone to a registered nurse to provide residents with immediate health care assistance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since that motion was brought forward, can the Minister assure this House that the health care provided in small communities has seen some improvements? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I can't understate the challenge that we face in the Northwest Territories. You know, I assure this House that we are actively working to improve health care. I've had many discussions with my staff. I've had discussions, you know, from what I've heard from other Members. And one of the discussions that I have been having is, you know, ensuring that we're looking at the communities and the model that we're providing in the communities, and that is something that I will be focusing on during my time as the Minister of health, is how, you know, the how do we support smaller communities and the residents in those small communities so that they're not having to leave the community as much as they have to, you know, so that they're getting preventative care in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister for social services. Supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you for that. Yes, Mr. Speaker, there have been dozens of stories, stories over the years of health centres prescribing Tylenol to very sick or even dying individuals seeking medical attention only to be dismissed or minimized and unheard. Does the Minister agree that Tylenol is being overprescribed to residents in our smaller communities? Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Member for raising this. In the small communities, we you know, we tend to get a lot of concerns we gotten a lot of concerns in this House when I was a Member, and we continue to hear stories but what I can say is we like, I cannot comment on individual cases in this House, but every report that every time there's a complaint, every report that's given to you know, that is put forward is looked into.
The other thing that I wanted to say is, you know, the Office of Client Experience is a new department. It had its oneyear anniversary. This is something that the 19th Members, you know, we all together worked hard to get Indigenous advocates. We you know, we and from that the Office of Client Experience has also been created so that people in the Northwest Territories can go directly to them when they're having concerns or if they have a complaint, and they can be helped through that. They don't need to go through the MLA to get a consent form. They can do verbal consent through that office. And so I encourage the Member to you know, and all Members, to ensure that their residents know about the Office of Client Experience. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister share with us how many permanent longterm health workers that are living in currently living in small communities across the NWT? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that specific detail I don't have here, but I'm willing to work with the Member and all Members in that hence to get that information and provide it back to the Member on the permanent how many permanent health care nurses that we do have. Thank you.
Social services. Oral questions. Member from Range Lake.
