Hospitals are spending too much money on private nursing agencies and NDP Health Critic France Gélinas wants it to stop.
Gélinas is following up on news reports that private, for-profit nursing agencies are taking advantage of the shortage of professional nurses to get hired on at publicly funded hospitals and long-term care homes.
The Globe and Mail newspaper had exclusive data that indicated that Ontario hospitals spent significantly more money to hire agency nurses in the past year when compared to the first year of the pandemic.
The report said that the number of hospitals forced to hire agency nurses was 78 last year, compared to 31 hospitals that hired agency nurses in 2020-21.
The report said the money Ontario hospitals doled out to hire private nursing agencies had quadrupled since 2020 with some agencies charging at much as $140 per hour for a registered nurse.
A similar issue was raised by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario at this time last year. Maria Casas, the political action executive network officer for the RNAO in Sudbury spoke out in a letter to Premier Doug Ford.
Gélinas said the higher spending amounts to exploitation of Ontario hospitals and long-term care homes.
“Relying on such agencies was never a viable solution for our health-care system. They are draining public resources, leading to increased ER closures across Ontario and seriously jeopardizing the quality of patient care,” Gélinas said in a news release. “This situation is unsustainable. If Ford doesn't stabilize the health-care workforce by simply repealing Bill 124, we will see the end of our beloved public healthcare system as we know it.”
Gélinas further said the Queen's Park Conservatives should stop issuing licences to for-profit agencies.
"During a time when we urgently need more beds and increased capacity for seniors' care, the government is letting private companies abandon our loved ones for financial gains," she said.