From a press release:
FALL RIVER: The Nova Scotia NDP is calling on the Auditor General to investigate the provincial government’s use of travel nurse agencies and review the value Nova Scotians are getting from the money being spent.
“The Nova Scotia government spends millions to hire travel nurses from private agencies to address shortages in the system. We need to do more to fill these vacancies with full-time, permanent staff,” said NDP Leader Claudia Chender.
“The Houston government is using travel nurses as a stop-gap measure to fill vacancies, but what we need are long-term solutions to address the health staffing crisis and ensure that nurses want to live and work in Nova Scotia.
“We’ve been pushing for a public travel nursing program like Manitoba for the past two years which would make a huge difference.”
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Last week, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) released a report on the use of agency nurses, or travel nurses, in Canada.
The report called agency nurse spending “a black box,” where there is limited “oversight or reporting of how public funds are being used.”
The report found that agency nurses earn much more than non-agency nurses, and recommended that provincial auditors general should investigate their costs.
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Friday’s September budget update revealed that the Department of Health and Wellness is reporting increased spending on agency nursing of $17.8 million above the already budgeted $80 million.
“Too often the Houston government is spending millions of health care dollars outside of the budget process and it’s difficult to track if that spending is really improving health care for Nova Scotians,” said NDP Health spokesperson Susan Leblanc.
“The Auditor General needs to conduct a full, independent analysis of how this money is being spent, and make recommendations on how to staff our hospitals in a more efficient, cost-effective way.”
During the fall sitting of the legislature, New Democrats introduced a bill to create a program designed to address nurse vacancies in hard-to-fill areas.
