Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cited in my Member's statement regarding health privacy concerns at the clinic, and so I'm going to ask the Minister what can she do to investigate, access, address, and follow up to people like myself, MLAs that is, what action can and will be taken to address these issues so inadvertently personal private information is not being shared? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd have to get more specifics from the Member, and I'm willing to have that conversation with him to figure out what the issue is and what's being -- the breach is, if there is a breach. I mean, we have stringent, like rules around sharing of private information, of health information. So I would further like to discuss this with the Member, and we can deal with it in the appropriate channels. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I may have used the word "breach." I'd have to go back to transcript. It wasn't -- no, no, but I want to be clear just for the mere second of grace you'll allow me. It's not a breach when two people are talking and people are listening as in a nefarious breach; it could just be shared inadvertently hence that's the breach per se, in that -- so if CBC's listening, you're not getting a fax.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I also cited the fact that there are line-ups at 7:30 when the doors open for those few precious appointments, and they're gone moments later, and then we have tons of people waiting in line behind them for those on the spot, same-day appointments, and the phone lines open at shortly past 8 and they're long gone. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain to this House what is the key issue underpinning the refusal to create an online booking system like there are so many out there already, and will she direct her department to find a workaround so we can become efficient and modern? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the proposed online booking system, this is -- NTHSSA is aware that the department within NTHSSA has added this to their intake process for IT projects, and that's triage based on the funding and need and so we are currently, as you know, having a very huge deficit of IT infrastructure. So I will make sure I figure out if there is a timeline or if this is going to move forward and how much this is, and I can report back to the Member with any of that information once I have it. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I look forward to that answer from the Minister.
Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I also cited that there are issues with the phone system where people will leave messages, and the message online, whether you're calling the hospital to a specialist section, whether it's, you know, ultrasound, etcetera, or the clinics, etcetera, is you will get a callback between two and three days, so Mr. Speaker, if the -- maybe the Premier's trying to draw the attention of the House. I thought I was being interrupted there. Did you want something, Mr. Premier? Oh, maybe not.
Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is what can she do to either accelerate the return call process or make sure someone's live to take these calls that keep coming in because people are frustrated they either don't get a call or never hear from them, period. I guess that's the same thing. She understands the issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife Centre. Colleagues, focus, please. Thank you. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the short answer is NorthwesTel and TSC are working together to trial a new system right now currently. Software and equipment have been procured. Staff are in training. And this will be tested within the next couple weeks, and then the trial -- live trial is expected sometime this month for that system to be ready. So I'm hoping that this will work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Great answer. Got everybody happy. That's good to hear.
Oral questions. Member from Monfwi.
