Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke to the need for clear and measurable targets related to our goal of reforming primary care and based on the answers the Minister shared in response to my questions, I want to continue on that thread today.
Yesterday, the Minister stated that the goal of primary health care reform is to ensure that all residents have access to culturally safe, team based, primary and community care, and then to establish integrated care pathways to support seamless integration and continuity across various health and social services and levels of care.
Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the Minister articulating the goals so clearly and succinctly and suggest it is a great set of overarching goals. So now we need to set the parameters and milestones which need to be established in order to achieve them.
First and most importantly, I think we need to define exactly what we mean by the word access. Technically, we all have access to health care now if we're willing to wait long enough or travel far enough or accept that continuity of care isn't possible. So we need to define what access to care will look like once we achieve our goal, and we need to establish a set of parameters which will need to be in place and maintained to sustain this access.
I would suggest, as advocated for by the NWT Medical Association in response to the announcement of the establishment of new primary care teams, that one of the key parameters is ensuring each primary care team is assigned to an appropriate number of patients as informed by data and expert advice. We need to set goals for each of the specific parameters, develop plans for how to achieve them, and realistic timelines for when they can be achieved. By going through that process, we will be able to identify a timeline for the overarching goal. The Minister noted yesterday that she doesn't want to rush this, and I am not suggesting at all that we set unrealistic timelines. But we do need to clearly communicate what we are specifically working to achieve, the various milestones and parameters needed along the way, and when we expect all the pieces to come together. Without effective planning and defined goal setting like this, we run the risk of chasing this aspiration perpetually without ever fully achieving it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Members' statements. Member from Yellowknife North.
