Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one thing I hear from frontline health care workers time after time again is the poor state of their morale. In fact, this is something the Minister and I talked about yesterday in the hallways here. What is -- what it is is certainly tied to the cohesion of their workplaces and the accountability of their managers. Is the Minister of Health and Social Services receiving proper feedback from her frontline staff and does she have the tools to assess morale in order to work on the improvements they need? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the make-up of the authority for the operations, which are the frontline staff which we hear a lot about from the Members of this House, lies within the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services. They are -- they have a governing council. So within the authority, where the Minister's relationship is is I get to work with the governing council over that authority. And, you know, when these issues are raised, I, you know, will have those conversations, not just with my own -- with the governing council chair but with my own deputy minister to be able to keep reiterating some of the issues that we're hearing in this House. You know, we've heard -- a lot of the issues that are raised in this House on morale are, you know -- have stemmed from, you know, MLAs from Yellowknife. You know, and I appreciate that that's being highlighted. However, you know, the -- there are many, many employees throughout the Northwest Territories that fall under NTHSSA, and they are hardworking employees. And I know the Members do, you know, agree with that. However, you know, there are -- you know, from my end -- like, from the information that I'm getting is a lot of it is that there's -- there's a lot of vacancies, and they have just recently signed their new collective agreement so maybe some of those changes that they negotiated in that collective agreement will help with this. But, again, they have just signed that collective agreement, and I'm hoping that we'll see some changes with employees and in recruitment in that area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to reassure the Minister that it's not just Yellowknife Members who are advocating for our health care workers; it's everyone on this side of the House up and down the Valley. So, Mr. Speaker, it's important as well that health care is not understaffed. The Minister just spoke to this. The staff that we do have are being forced to work long hours, sometimes 12-hour shifts without breaks. How is the Minister going to ensure frontline staff, such as emergency room doctors and nurses, are not overworked and not tired, burnt out, and unable to provide high quality care? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I appreciate that question because the process for the NTHSSA is, you know, they have the authority; we've been questioned on how the money is being spent in there. We have a deficit. So over the years, in order to deal with some of those issues, has been they are running a deficit because they're trying to fit in areas where there's not -- you know, where the staffing vacancies are, where there's only a certain amount of staff per unit, there's -- you know, and so there's a process for that. And right now, what the process is is they run a deficit. You know, we've also heard from the other side of the House is we need to figure out this deficit. So that's what we're doing. We've created the health sustainability unit to figure out where all the money is going that we approve in this budget, in the budgets, like, in the operating budget that goes to the health authority that goes to the department, what are those -- all those positions, are they funded? Are they not funded? Why aren't they funded? Where do we need to find that funding? You know, right now, you know, we've heard that we're projecting a $63,000 deficit for next year's budget, you know, and so we have to figure out all that out. And in order to increase the support for those staff, we need to bring those things forward. They need to come from somewhere. We've heard from from the Minister of Finance that we're reaching our borrowing limit. You know, so we have to start to find that money from within and, you know, and that's the work that we're trying to do with the health sustainability unit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the Minister and I absolutely agree that -- but where perhaps we disagree is that there's two issues here. One is the good value for money and financial management of the health care system, and the other is the operational management where frontline workers are not feeling heard. The common thread here is management. How can leaders be held accountable within the health system, and will the Minister commit to implementing manager evaluations and reviewing organizational structures that aren't working? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as the Member is saying this, right now there is actual leadership training going on within the NTHSSA to support those managers to do the work that the Member is asking for. Why this is only happening now? I can't speak as to what happened in the past or what changes. But we know that our managers are taxed with a lot -- we know our frontline staff is taxed with a lot. How do we support our managers to help, you know, to work with their frontline staff to let their frontline staff feel supported? That's the work that's going on right now. It might not be out there nice and shiny and being able to say this but, you know, I think -- I'm hoping that that will try to help to support those managers to continue to support their frontline staff. And, you know, and I think the time management between them and the recruitment parts of their jobs is taking effect on their time being able to support their frontline staff. So all those things are being looked at and that was taken away from the town hall that we had, especially because the town hall that we had was at Stanton, and those things have been taken away to try and figure out ways to resolve some of those things internally. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I've spoken to many of the participants in that town hall. Many of those staff have mentioned their concerns that they do a lot of work mentoring other staff, helping them with their concerns, and they feel like there's not a transparent, non-biased staff person whose job is to go back and specifically take their feedback and issues with an open mind. Last budget, we asked the Minister to explore the implementation of an office of practitioner experience or some sort of dedicated ombud-like role that staff can bring their concerns to that can get worked on. That's not the role of the current office -- the current patient experience unit. That's more for patients. We need something for practitioners. The Minister committed to look at it. Can she update the House on how far they've come so we can get that unbiased person for our staff to speak to when they have a concern? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a process internally for all staff, you know, and I think that's the tool that they need to use. And from when I speak to the senior staff, they're not hearing. And so if that's an issue, then, you know -- and this is what I recommended to the staff. If they're not getting an answer from their immediate direct supervisor, then they go to the next level. And, you know, and I mean, coming to the -- directly to the Minister's office, a lot of this stuff is operational. A lot of it is staffing, you know, and the things that the Member, like, brings up, they also have a union that is independent and that is there to protect them that they do pay for. So they can also use that tool. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
