Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to advise the Member that much of what he’s saying is something that we have been discussing and working with and it’s part of the Foundation for Change plan in that we understand that we need to work on the larger framework, like the governance and delivery models but the focus in delivery needs to still be at the community level.
As mentioned earlier by the deputy minister, the recruitment and retention of physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, for example, we have 68-plus positions and we have about 20 vacancies. While we are trying to recruit and retain, we understand that will continue to be a challenge because of the fact that not only are the residents and clients aging, but our health care professionals, by and large, are aging as well. So we are going to see increased demand for service but decreased number of people who could do the job.
This is why, under the Foundation for Change, we need to look at the overall system and do much of what MLA Yakeleya is saying, that is, to look in each community and see what is the team of care providers that we can establish in each community and region. They may not be the conventional health care people. We go to doctors when we need doctors here. We go to nurses and those people when we need them, but there are a lot we can do on prevention, promotion, as well as working with people as they go through their illness or their questions about their health issues or managing their cancer care afterward, because we know that lots of people can live a pretty good life afterwards from cancer treatment as long as they are looked after. So that is short. I will conclude there.
Much of what he is saying is part of our Foundation for Change action plan, understanding, though, it will take a long time for us to go to every community and work it out. So we are looking at first regional dialogue and we are looking, as the fund permits, to bring people together and have a dialogue about how do we take ownership of our own health care and what can we do from the ground up to make this work for us. That is part of the plan. Thank you.