Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I heard from a constituent today who had to wait nine -- or sorry, had to wait 11 months for an ultrasound appointment. He tells me that it's a 9 to 10 monthly wait for a routine ultrasound. We've recently changed the appointment system here in Yellowknife. It was supposed to speed this up. We heard early reports that we were getting more people into appointments, not less. Why are we continuing to experience such a great backlog for people who are just trying to get routine appointments like this? We're not talking about major surgeries; we're talking about an ultrasound. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister of health provide an answer?
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the first time that this has been brought to my attention, so I don't have any answers for the Member at this time on wait times for ultrasound. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, earlier when these changes were made, the Minister was able to provide some details on how many more people were being seen. It seemed like an improvement. Does she have any updated numbers for the House today? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have that level of detail for that specific area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I'm also being told that people have to -- are being told in the departments when they want to change appointments or if they need to change appointments with the doctors, they have to call the central booking mechanism, whether that be a phone call or an email or something like that. Why are we making it more cumbersome? Isn't there a way to do this more or less on the fly; why are we adding extra steps for patients when they're trying to access health care? Should we not be making it simpler, let people talk to their doctors, they're health care providers, and change appointments as needed? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So for switching the line of questioning with how accessing the primary care clinic, there is a process that there -- that each clinic runs throughout the whole of the Northwest Territories. How it is in Yellowknife, you know, the process of the accessing the walk-in clinic or creating a same-day appointment downtown, if it's primary care clinic you have to go through the primary care receptionist. If there's more detail or if there's a certain concern, I would have -- gladly have the Member bring that to my office and so we can figure out what the issue is. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.
