I will try not to sound blunt here. I’ve heard this song and dance before and so have many Members of the House. It’s not as if I am displeased, knowing we are striving and dealing with capacity issues and trying to find individuals and work on cross-departmental solutions. The fact remains is we’re still not able to provide that level of primary first-language service in a lot of our communities.

What I haven’t heard the Minister indicate is we are using technology. By technology, I mean just the simple fact of having an app with easy pictures, body parts where the pain is in conjunction with the people who may speak the language, simple tools and mechanics could be used to help diagnose and explain what the health system can do for that patient rather than nothing. I can’t expect a patient who doesn’t understand English coming into a scenario where at least we have some tools at the health centre, other than pointing them to a website. Is the department working on using technology? I’m not just talking in the bigger forum in terms of medical records and telehealth – I mean, those are big processes – but I’m talking about in the hands of the people who could be user-friendly, live in a world of app-friendly technology, and I know there have been language apps that have been designed. Have there been language apps designed for mental and health related issues? That can act as a segue between what the patient needs and what we can deliver at a health care level.

So again, the question is technology, are we there? Thank you.