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4mo ago

Ontario Reintroduces Transparency Bill as Hospitals Spend $9B on Agency Staff Over Decade

New study reveals soaring costs and vacancies, while some hospitals aim to eliminate reliance on for-profit staffing agencies by September.

A nurse is silhouetted behind a glass panel as she tends to a patient in the Intensive Care Unit at an Ontario hospital on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Andrew Longhurst, author of a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, argues the use of private staffing agencies is doing serious damage to hospital budgets across Ontario.
While Ontario funds training for new nursing graduates, hospital spending on agency nurses and other workers is increasing faster than for permanent staff, new research shows.

Overview

  • Ontario hospitals spent over $9 billion on for-profit agency staff from 2013-14 to 2022-23, with agency spending nearly doubling during this period.
  • Agency staff accounted for just 0.4% of hours worked in 2022-23 but consumed 6% of hospitals’ labour budgets, raising concerns about cost-effectiveness.
  • Hospital job vacancies rose by 331% between 2015 and 2024, with critics arguing that reliance on agency staff exacerbates workforce instability.
  • The Ontario government has reintroduced legislation mandating billing and pay rate transparency for staffing agencies, though it stops short of fee caps or bans.
  • Some hospitals, such as Oak Valley Health, are independently working to phase out agency staffing by September through targeted hiring and training initiatives.