Mr. Speaker, I have Return to Written Question 35-16(2) asked by Mr. Hawkins on June 19, 2008, regarding contract information with the Government of Nunavut.
Stanton Territorial Health Authority (STHA) provides a number of services to residents of the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, including rehabilitation services through travel clinics. These services include speech language pathology (SLP) and occupational therapy (OT). These arrangements for services have been in place since the division of the Northwest Territories (NWT) and the creation of Nunavut in 1999.
In the case of rehabilitation services, the arrangements with Nunavut involve all Kitikmeot communities receiving visits twice per year by SLP and OT. Each of these visits takes place over a four to five day period, depending on travel requirements. There are additional time requirements associated with these travel clinics for preparation and follow-up. In the 2007–2008 fiscal years, OT provided a total of 80 service days to
Nunavut, and SLP provided 60 service days. All of the OT and SLP staff share in the provision of services to Nunavut. STHA also sees Nunavut client as inpatients: 154 for OT in 2007–2008; 16 in SLP in 2007–2008; and outpatients: 38 in OT and 19 in SLP in 2007–2008 with travel clinics providing a continuum of that care.
Invoicing for these services occurs regularly to the Government of Nunavut. The daily per diem for SLP and OT for travel clinics is $1,200. In addition, the actual travel costs are billed to Nunavut. Officials from the Department of Health and Social Services and Financial Management Board Secretariat are involved in discussions with the officials from the Government of Nunavut to collect outstanding receivables, to which there may be potential for write off.
The staffing levels for SLP and OT at STHA are:
•
seven full-time equivalent (FTE) - SLP
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0.5 FTE - SLP program assistant
• 8.3 FTE - OT
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1.0 FTE - OT program assistant
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1.5 FTE - OT aide
Historically, the SLP positions have had at least one vacancy over the last two to three years, and at some times two vacancies, primarily due to maternity leaves. Unfortunately, SLP are extremely difficult to recruit, as there is a shortage of these individuals nationally. In contrast, the OT area has been fairly stable with little turnover and very few vacancies over the last several years.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.