N.B. defends costly use of travel nurses as 'necessary at the time'
CBC
The New Brunswick government is defending the use of travel nurses in the face of criticism over the high cost to taxpayers.
Deputy health minister Eric Beaulieu was grilled about the controversial practice when he appeared before the legislature's public accounts committee on Wednesday.
Liberal health critic Rob McKee questioned the "heavy reliance on expensive out-of-town nurses facilitated by private agencies."
These agencies included Toronto-based Canadian Health Labs, which charges "exorbitant rates" of more than $300 an hour — roughly six times what a local staff nurse earns, McKee said, citing a recent investigation by the Globe and Mail.
"This is nothing more than gouging taxpayers," McKee said. "It's a result of the Higgs government's mismanagement of the health-care crisis."
New Brunswick's two regional health authorities, Horizon and Vitalité, spent a combined $56.8 million in the first five months of 2023-24 on the costs associated with travel nurses, according to figures obtained by CBC News and separately by the New Brunswick Nurses Union through a right to information request late last year.
But the Globe found the actual cost is much higher. The national newspaper obtained copies of three contracts between Vitalité and Canadian Health Labs. The first, which ran from July 29, 2022, until Sept. 23, 2023, for a maximum of $20 million, provided a mix of registered nurses and licensed practical nurses at the equivalent of $300.72 an hour.
A second contract, worth a maximum of $45 million, supplied personal support workers at $162.29 an hour, while the third, which went into effect on Dec. 2, 2022, and runs until February 2026, with a cap of $93 million, effectively charges Vitalité $306.70 an hour per nurse.
The contracts between Vitalité and Canadian Health Labs were "done at a time when Vitalité was facing either closure of services or closure — in their words — closure of facilities related to staffing shortages," Beaulieu told McKee.
The department has been working with both Vitalité and Horizon in reducing the use of travel nurses across the province, he said.
"It is not an aspect that either the department, the minister, or the RHAs wish to continue long term, but I will say it was a necessary at the time they were signed."
Beaulieu expects Horizon to eliminate the use of travel nurses this spring. "There may be a short delay in some very specific areas, but the overall volume would be quite minimal."
Vitalité will take longer because of the challenges with francophone recruitment and the Canadian Health Labs contract, which runs until 2026.
The New Brunswick Nurses Union and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions intend to send a joint letter to Auditor General Paul Martin, calling on him to investigate.
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