On to Page 6-10 Mr. Bromley

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I believe the NWT TeleSpeech project falls under this activity, Mr. Chairman. I see we have three phases to it and I believe we are not proposing to enter phase three. I am wondering what the status of it is, if we are on target for phase one and two in terms of deploying the activities we had planned and on budget. Thank you.

Ms. Meade.

The deputy minister has foreseen my next question. I note in the materials provided, that training is recognized as essential. I understand we are in the phase of getting the equipment out there and some of it updated and so on. Is the budget on target as well? Have the costs been what we expected? On the training question, it would be good to know where we are at. Obviously we would like it to be somewhat keeping pace with the equipment we are putting out there. Thank you.

My last question, again the deputy minister anticipated, is on evaluation and use of the system, which of course is related to all of the former subjects we have been talking about, but I am wondering if we are monitoring the number of cases, and I don't know what the parameters would be, but do we have a plan for evaluation and is that in place as we go along? Thank you.

Again, thank you for those comments. Is it pretty even across the Territories or are there areas that we need to focus? Have we got that far in our assessment or monitoring of things? Is there an area where we need to put extra focus in, a geographic area? Thank you.

Thank you. Again, I have been reminded that we are dealing with capital here. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The information that we have here is that in terms of the communities that I represent, are all the telehealth services in place now and it can be used for the communities in terms of what it is intended for in terms of health care?

Ms. Meade.

We've certainly had some great debates in regard to improving our health care system through this information technology services available to us. I'm going to just ask the Minister of Finance in terms of worthwhile investment for us such as this here in terms of having this system available to us in the Sahtu because of the number of factors that make it quite difficult to have other services like the larger centres. I know and appreciate what the deputy minister said in terms of two centres that possibly could be used in this. I think it would be very beneficial to have the other centres also involved in terms of using this type of service. We invest a lot of money and continue to invest and I think that's a way we can also cut down on our medical travel, if need be, and look at how we keep people back in our communities rather than fly them out to larger centres. I'll ask the Minister.

Ms. Lee.

Yes, I just want to say the deputy minister came with me to Fort Good Hope, but I was in Tulita, Deline and Colville with the Member before that; before her time. We saw telehealth equipment in all of the facilities. The Sahtu was one of the first ones for a rollout. The staff there were excited and preparing to use that. I should caution that the whole plan is in process in all three stages, but right now a lot of staff are dealing with H1N1 issues that might delay the rollout a little bit. I hope the Member is willing to stand up. The Sahtu is all fully equipped in all four communities. Nice TV, with wheels.

Can't argue with TV on wheels. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's good to know that the Sahtu is fully equipped and we're ready to go here. I wanted to ask the Minister, I know there's an issue here we need to deal with in all the Northwest Territories and this may cause some delays in terms of getting this information up and going for us. This is something that we can look forward to. I certainly know that this is very important for our people here. They have seen it. They like it. I hope we're not, that we can, for our region have this available here for our centres, like any of the small communities that do not have nurses or have limited access to physicians. Could this be something the Minister could pay a little closer attention to in terms of having this up and going in light of having to deal with the flu that is coming around the corner here?

Yes, we fully intend to maximize the use of that equipment. It is more suitable for our small communities. Not only the telehealth, but also DI/PAC equipment will be in all of the small communities too. I just want to know that, and I do need to tell the Members that H1N1 right now is the number one priority and we have had to employ human resources who would not normally be dealing with public health issues in the department and in the regional health centres to address it. Everybody is fully geared up to deal with H1N1, but the telehealth machines and DI/PAC and electronic health records system is rolling out really nicely and we will do everything we can to fully maximize that, because it would really benefit and help us to deliver our care.

I certainly look forward to the day when I can walk to any health centre station in the Sahtu and see that this operation is fully in place and implemented and the people know how to use it. That will be a plus for this government here to look at improving our health care centres in our smaller communities.

I would ask also if part of this whole information investment here that we're using is also our health centres on line with the new system on medical records. Is this something that is also in place in our health centres? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the plan is to roll it out to all of the communities, but right now we are doing a pilot project to iron out the use of the program and make sure the confidentiality issues and all of the data gathering and keeping are safe. So we still are in the process of finalizing that, but certainly the plan is to have it out to the communities. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, again, I would ask if the Minister sometime would -- maybe it's already been provided -- provide kind of a plan as to which communities and regions are going to be on the list for the rollout of this project here.

The last point I had, Mr. Chair, in terms of this information here...It's been a long day, so I just can't remember. I lost it there. So I will have to leave it. I am having a senior's moment, Mr. Chair. I will leave it at that for now.

I believe Mr. Yakeleya was asking if you could provide the information so that he could have that in his hands. Minister of Finance.