I agree with the Member that this is not a simple matter and it does involve patient care and comfort and continuity of care that the patient expects.
Specialist service in the Territories and at Stanton Hospital is one of the most important and expensive services. We’ve spent about $13 million on specialists and they’re often over budget. We also spent a lot of money on out-of-territory services. So it is important that when we get a specialist service such as a neurologist, that we use those resources at maximum.
With respect to wait times, we did review that and I certainly could work with the specialist to make sure that those wait lists are managed as much as possible. I am aware that, especially with MS patients, we have quite a few of them in Yellowknife. It seems it is more common in Yellowknife and Hay River. It is important for us to have a neurologist service here. We’re lucky we have those and we just need to make sure that we manage as well as possible so that we communicate well with the patients.