Monday, March 18, 2024

Staff shortages causes hospitals to pay private agency nurses double the salary

First Published:

Ontario’s Nurses’ Association (ONA) says hospitals are desperate for help. Being short-staffed has led to poor and even dangerous working conditions.

Cathryn Hoy from the ONA says many nurses are signing up for bigger wages with private companies that supply medical staff to healthcare facilities. Normally reserved for long-term care homes but the pandemic has forced many hospitals to reach out for help.

“Nurses making pretty much double what all the other nurses on the floor are making and the business that they work for is billing the hospital about four times what a nurse would be. So they’re actually paying four times the hourly rate for a nurse that the hospital is paying, which is abuse of health care funds,” Hoy said.

Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) tells CHCH News that on average, anywhere between 1 to 2 agency nurses are employed over a 24-hour period. Hoy says she’s heard that one hospital’s nursing staff is 85% privately employed, something she says is an unsustainable model since the agency nurses are making anywhere between $80 to $112 an hour.

Hoy says Bill 124 caps the wage increase for public sector workers like nurses at 1% a year. She says removing the bill would allow hospitals to pay their nurses something closer to agency salaries.

“Why not pay the staff you have that are at the frontline? Agency nurses will come back and work in their home communities and get paid what they rightfully should be paid. Then they’ll have a pension. Then they’ll have their benefits and will have guaranteed staffing on the floors,” Hoy said.

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