Travel nurse spending hits $8.8M, nearly 7 times previous year

Spending on travel nurses, who are hired from a private agency for temporary work, is growing exponentially on P.E.I., but Health Minister Mark McLane says the spending is necessary to protect local services and staff.

Spending for the current fiscal year, 2023-24, is forecast to be $8.8 million. It was less than $1.5 million last year and less than $30,000 just three years ago.

The cost of travel nursing averages $120 per hour, says Health P.E.I., which includes administrative fees from the agency. It's expensive, said McLane, but necessary.

"The issue is what is the cost of not providing a service," he said.

"The option is to close a certain, particular service, and we obviously do not want to do that under any circumstances."

'Scared to go to work because they can't leave'

Travel nurses are a short-term fix, said McLane, and the province is continuing to work on long-term solutions like international recruitment and educating more nursing staff in the province.

While using highly-paid travel nurses can create morale issues with the regular staff working alongside them, McLane said their support can protect staff from burnout, as well as from finding themselves having to remain at work due to a lack of staff coming in behind them.

"Some of them are scared to go to work because they can't leave, especially at our long-term care facilities," said McLane.

"I heard that during my tour at a couple of facilities, that sometimes they would be called in for a shift and then somebody wouldn't be able to fill the next shift."

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions has asked P.E.I. Auditor General Darren Noonan to investigate the use and cost of private nursing agencies on the Island.

Noonan said an audit of travel nurse spending is not in the current work plan, but could be considered in the future.