Spike in travel nurse spending shows just how bad workforce shortage is, says union president

The president of Newfoundland and Labrador's nurses' union says the massive difference in spending on travel nurses between 2022 and 2023 is proof of how bad the nursing shortage became in the province in just one year.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services spent $18.4 million on travel nursing in 2022. The following year it was $90 million.

According to documents obtained through an access-to-information request and broken down by the four regional health zones — which were amalgamated into N.L. Health Services in April 2023 — $1,720,085.99 was spent in the Eastern zone, $2,623,429.60 was spent in Labrador-Grenfell, $3,842,988.36 was spent in the Western zone and $10,202,632.38 was spent in the Central zone in 2022.

"Well, obviously, the contracts got bigger and our shortage got bigger. So the gaps in the system for registered nurses, nurse practitioners and other health-care professionals, it grew over the last couple of years," Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses' Union Newfoundland and Labrador, told CBC News.

"We should be decreasing the amount of money we're spending on agency nurses."

Many nurses retired early and left the profession during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Coffey, who called it "the breaking point for many nurses" and other health-care providers.

Before the pandemic, she said, the province was already seeing a rise in nursing vacancies and her union called for a plan to address the upcoming shortage.

"But it fell on deaf ears for many, many years. Finally, here in this province, we now have an office for health professional recruitment and retention," said Coffey.

She said the union is working to stabilize nursing through efforts to retain and recruit staff.

N.L. Health Services declined a CBC News request for an interview.

Spending under scrutiny

Spending on travel nurses gained scrutiny after a Globe and Mail report revealed the provincial government spent $35.6 million on nurses from private agencies within the span of just five months — April to August 2023 — and shelled out cash for travel nurses' training and cable bills, among other expenses.

Premier Andrew Furey said spending on travel nurses was to fill gaps in a strained health-care system that was struggling during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May, the health authority said it planned to reduce the number of private health-care staff from around 340 to around 60 people — which former N.L. Health Services CEO David Diamond said was the pre-pandemic level — by April 2026.

Diamond, who has since retired, also said the health authority anticipates spending $70 million this year on agency nurses.

In March, Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general's office announced it would launch an investigation into the province's health sector contracts.

Coffey said she's looking forward to the results of the investigation.

"I know it's going to take some time, probably upwards of a year to get that report, but we are pleased that that is now being investigated and looked at," she said.

Nursing needs investment

Coffey said when she hears about the millions of dollars being spent on travel nurses it makes her think of improvements her union has been asking for to stabilize the nursing workforce, like a health sector safety council and the amalgamation of the nursing schools.

"That's the future of nursing in Newfoundland and Labrador and we need to get that done and we need to get it done right," she said.

"If we're going to get to a point where the dependency on agency nurses has decreased, we need to be growing more of our own, which means educating our own nurses here."

Some progress has been made to boost the number of local nurses, Coffey said, including increasing the number of nursing seats in nursing programs and new financial support for nursing students.

It will take years before those new students graduate and join the workforce, she said.

She said the province needs to be enticing for prospective students and depending on international recruitment is not sustainable.

"Our hope is with recruitment and retention that we will get there and fill the gaps in the system," said Coffey.

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