Ontario Liberals ask auditor general to investigate use of temporary nursing agencies

The Ontario Liberals are asking the auditor general to investigate the use of temporary nursing agencies in the provincial health-care system.

In the request for a value-for-money audit, sent on Thursday, Health Critic Adil Shamji says that hospital executives and health-care workers have been sounding the alarm.

“Given the enormous pressure being experienced across our health-care system and profound financial challenges reported by many institutions, an audit of the scandalous lack of oversight and mismanagement in this sector could not be more important,” Shamji wrote in the letter.

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

The request comes one day after Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced an expansion of private clinics who can perform surgeries covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Experts have long said that without strict guidelines, the government’s plans to reduce the province’s surgical backlog will leave hospitals with a serious human resources challenge.

Back in January 2023, when the Doug Ford government first released a three-step plan that would see private health-care clinics be given more responsibility,” Doug Angus, a University of Ottawa professor with a specialization in healthcare economics, noted that hospitals will be left in a “more difficult bind than they currently are in.”

“The idea is good, but there's still a tremendous lack of human resources to be able to sort of pull this one off,” he said.

• MORE: Experts react to Doug Ford's new healthcare plan

He and other experts suggested the public system could see a mass exodus of staff interested in working at private clinics, where they can potentially get better pay and benefits.

A year later and hospitals, as well as the province’s auditor general, are yet again sounding the alarm.

A December report found that staffing shortages are contributing to emergency department closures.

At the time, Acting Auditor General Nick Stavropoulos said the government had no central plan to help hospitals maintain nurse staffing levels to avoid ER closures.

"A province-wide strategy to help hospitals and long term care homes maintain appropriate staffing levels is critical for the sector's success moving forward."

Stavropoulos said that hospitals are becoming more reliant on nursing agencies to fill the gaps and that this is coming at a higher cost.

For example, he noted that nurses at private, for-profit nursing agencies can get paid more than $75 an hour compared to the $35 to $50 per hour that full-time hospital nurses make.

There is currently no legislation that caps the amount for-profit staffing agencies can charge hospitals.

In his letter to the new auditor general Shelley Spence, Shamji suggested an investigation review “rampant price gouging,” “predatory recruiting practices”, and “unfair contractual obligations.” The Liberals argue that hospitals are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds without proper protections against these kind of practices.

“The rising cost of these agencies is measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but also in the injustices that they impose upon healthcare workers and our province’s healthcare institutions,” Shamji wrote.

Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said the current ER closures and long wait times are “a deliberate refusal by this government to adequately fund our hospitals.”

“ I say deliberate because this is not just some accident. Doug Ford and his conservative cronies are starving our public health care system of the funding that it needs.”

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Jones said the problems facing Ontario’s health-care system is “not a money conversation or challenge.”

“It is making sure that we have sufficient health, human resources to serve our communities.”

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, a spokesperson for the minister said the Progressive Conservatives have increased its healthcare budget by over $16 billion since 2018, including funnelling $80 billion into the sector this year.

“This includes a 4 per cent increase to the hospital sector, an additional $44 million to tackle emergency department wait times and, a historic $330 million in permanent funding for pediatric care in every corner of the province,” Hannah Jensen said.

Jensen noted the government does not have contacts with health-care worker agencies.

“Hospitals have always had the tool to use agency nurses and did under the former Liberal government.”

The government said the proportion of agency nurses has decreased by 0.8 per cent between 2017 and 2022-2023.