Saskatchewan's use of travel nurses questioned, as SUN predicts $70M to be spent in 2024 alone

Saskatchewan’s use of travel nurses to fill gaps in the province’s health care system came under fire in the legislature. The opposition claims costs surrounding the program are “ballooning.”

As the name implies, travel nurses are registered nurses (RNs) or licensed practical nurses (LPN) who work for independent staffing companies. These professionals are hired on temporary contracts lasting anywhere from weeks to months.

The government has maintained that travel nurses are being utilized only as a stopgap measure to fill the most urgent vacancies in the province’s health care system and minimize service disruptions.

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The Saskatchewan NDP believe the province is leaning on these valuable assets too heavily.

“I know that there are a lot of concerns right now about the ballooning cost and reliance on travel nurses,” Health Critic Vicki Mowat told reporters on Wednesday.

“It's understandable that we would use contract nursing agencies in situations where it's very hard to recruit, where a service is going to be shut down, if they don't have that service available. But this should not be a long term solution, and we know that it is quite costly.”

Using data gleaned from Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) annual reports, the opposition revealed that through 2022-23, a total of $25,305,214 was spent on travel nurses.

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(Courtesy: Saskatchewan NDP)

On March 11, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) reported that the province was on track to spend $70 million in 2024 on travel nurses.

Use of the professionals are going up – with 50,000 contracted hours being reported in January as opposed to 29,000 in January of 2023, according to SUN.

“What should’ve been a last resort, temporary stopgap has now become a crutch for our struggling health system,” the union said in a message to social media.

Health Minister Everett Hindley echoed the sentiments of both Mowat and SUN – in saying travel nurses are not the solution to Saskatchewan’s health care struggles.

“That's not the long term solution," he said. "Obviously, that's not what we want to be seeing I know that's been a topic of conversation for health ministers and and premiers across this nation,” he said.

When asked if nursing recruitment timelines or targets have been set in stone – Hindley said work continues.

“Not as of yet. But I would say this is a very active conversation with our officials.”

Hindley went on to highlight the Health and Human Resources Action Plan and the recruitment of 250 nurses to rural positions – which was announced in November.

“Those are new dollars for new positions, either positions that are brand new, or positions that were perhaps part time or temporary, and have now been annualized as permanent and full time positions,” he explained.

The recruitment of nurses as part of efforts to address capacity concerns in both Regina and Saskatoon were also mentioned.

“That was part of some of the mid-year funding that had to go towards those additional costs,” Hindley added.

The opposition has said the use of travel nurses represents a failure in the province’s recruitment strategy.

Mowat claimed its also leading to morale issues for full time staff.

“Employees of the SHA saying things like ‘this person who's working alongside me who's doing the same work as me, is getting paid three times as much as me,’ Mowat explained. “I know the rates vary according to the nursing agencies – but this government has completely lacked transparency on how much we're spending as a province on contract nurses.”

“We know that there is an overreliance that has only gotten significantly larger since the pandemic and there doesn't seem to be a real plan to get this under control,” she added.

Mowat claimed that since Premier Scott Moe took office in 2018, 474 nurses working in rural and remote areas have left - while positions filled by travel nurses are growing.

“We go into emergency rooms and we asked ‘What percentage of folks here are contract nurses?’ And we've heard as many as 30 per cent. It's really scary when our system is relying on contracts,” she said.

“I think what's concerning to me is the alarming trend line of over reliance right now and not having a plan to get out of it.”

The discussions over the cost of travel nurses come after the province pledged $450 million to the Ministry of Health and the SHA in late February.

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The surprise funding came one month before the release of the 2024-2025 provincial budget.