Newfoundland and Labrador’s health authority has launched a pilot to cut back on one of its most expensive indulgences: Out-of-province travel nurses from private staffing firms.
Driving the news: Union staff nurses at public health institutions can now take on extra work as temporary fill-ins in rural areas. While the nurses can only do this during their days off, they are rewarded with an overwhelming sense of goodwill… and an extra $25 an hour.
- The wages should both attract nurses and save Newfoundland some money. The province was paying as much as $312 an hour per nurse from a private firm. While those nurses did get sizable wages, most of the money went directly to the firm.
Why it’s happening: During the pandemic, public healthcare turned to nurses from private firms to get new workers. What was supposed to be a stop-gap solution has turned into a full-on addiction, with provinces now shelling out tens of millions per year for said nurses.
- Newfoundland, in particular, has relied on private nurses. It spent ~$1 million a year on them pre-pandemic. Between April and August of 2023, it spent $35.6 million.
Zoom out: Alberta rolled out a similar strategy to Newfoundland’s in 2022, the Ontario NDP has proposed legislation to limit the use of private staffing firms in the province’s healthcare system, and Québec plans to eliminate usage entirely by 2026.
Why it matters: Hospitals are dealing with even worse shortages than they were four years ago, with projections showing Canada will be short 117,000 nurses by 2030. Private firms may help fill gaps, but critics argue that they do more harm than good by siphoning nurses from the public sector.—QH