Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's clear that at our territorial hospital, Stanton, we have a crisis on our hands. Particularly since COVID, we've demanded more and more from our frontline health workers, staff have quit due to inadequate supports, services have been closed and relocated to Alberta, and we have increasingly relied on expensive agency nurses to keep services open. The staff that remain feeling increasingly taken for granted and undersupported. There's been a downward spiral in morale alongside an upward spiral in costs and inefficiencies.
Mr. Speaker, in my discussions with health care workers at Stanton, we have come up with an idea for a cost-effective solution that I want to present now for consideration during these budget deliberations. While it doesn't fix everything, it could help release some of the immediate pressure and set us on a path towards better staff retention.
The idea is to establish a task force. The task force could be staffed by two to three people who would act as navigators and brokers of solutions for frontline staff to address the low hanging fruit causing the greatest frustrations amongst health care workers, especially when it comes to workplace policies and procedures and labour relations. Who makes decisions about what can be exceedingly confusing within our health care system? A task force would direct staff to the person with the authority to address their issue and support concrete actions to address it.
Now, we currently have an office of client experience and a cancer navigator program focusing on advocating for patients and helping patients navigate the system. The task force I'm proposing would have a similar purpose, except it's for staff. It could eventually become a more permanent fixture in our system. Perhaps an office of provider experience.
The task force would need to be independent from management but with access to leadership in order to to be able to broker solutions. It should have similar authority as a senior advisor. Importantly, we need to choose members with expertise about our particular NWT health care system but not pull existing staff out of other essential positions. The task force needs to be action orientated and, on top of addressing individual cases, it should identify common problems and recommend systemic improvements both in the short and long term. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So establishment of this task force should be accompanied by a commitment by the Minister and NTHSSA to take actions wherever possible to show that we truly value our health care workers and are responsive to their needs. I will be asking questions of the Minister at the proper time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife North. Members' statements. Member from Range Lake.
