It depends on what program we're talking about because every program is a little different.
In the case of the adjudication process we've invested a lot of money in the past six months to a year with our colleagues at CAF, but we still have delays receiving medical health records. They're much better; they're down to about five weeks now. At one point this year it was nine weeks. If you have a 16-week process, and nine weeks to get a file, it's causing us some issues. DND are all over it. They've added resources, but on the adjudication side that's one of the areas.
Another area we get delays is with getting medical assessments. In certain parts of the country it is difficult to get a doctor, a GP. When they're in the forces the member has a doctor. When they release, in certain communities you're on the waiting list to get a general practitioner. In P.E. I., where we are, it could be eight months before you are assigned a GP. You could always go to a clinic before you get a GP. I think it's even longer than that in some locations in Quebec. If you need a medical assessment from the provincial authorities, that causes delays. All those are things that go into delays.
In certain cases we have to refer them to specialized services. We're doing a case plan with an individual and we have to refer them to a special mental health worker. In Ottawa it's not a big issue because the service is quite good. In Fredericton, New Brunswick, there is an issue. New Brunswick is a low-paying province when it comes to salaries for psychologists and psychiatrists. Therefore they go into the private sector much quicker than they stay for the province. We run into some of those that cause delays in getting the diagnosis. We take other processes to try and eliminate that, like working with our CAF and sending them to a CAF doctor, but those are some examples of delays we see.