NDP MPP Gélinas reintroduces bill to stop the for-profit nursing agency gravy train

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Health, France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), was joined by RNAO past president Dr. Claudette Holloway, Rachel Fleming, member of OCHU/CUPE’s RPN committee, and Sharon Richer, Secretary-Treasurer OCHU/CUPE to re-introduce Healthcare Staffing Agencies Act, 2023.

“Our publicly funded hospitals and long-term care homes are seeing their budgets drained by for-profit nursing agencies billing obscene amounts of money,” said Gélinas. “Ontario’s Minister of Health has taken no action to stop private for-profit nursing agencies from making millions of dollars in profit at the expense of quality of patient care, this needs to stop.”

"Let’s call it what it is — price gouging. We’ve got private, for-profit nursing agencies making a killing off a crisis this government helped create with Bill 124. They’re poaching staff from our hospitals and long-term care homes, charging outrageous rates, and draining public dollars that should be going to public care. That’s why Urgent Care Centres are closing, and hallway medicine is at a record high in Niagara — we can’t staff them. This isn’t sustainable, it’s not fair to workers, and it’s sure as hell not fair to patients and seniors" added Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Long Term Care, Retirement homes, and Home Care Wayne Gates.

If passed, the Healthcare Staffing Agencies Act, 2025, would direct every hospital and long-term care home in a municipality with a population of 8,000 or more to develop a plan to limit its spending on agencies. Agencies established after the Act comes into force will be not-for-profit and any agency which receives more than $400,000 in public money would be under the oversight of the Auditor General, the Patient Ombudsman, the Ontario Ombudsman and the Integrity Commissioner with all employees included on the Sunshine List. An agency is forbidden from paying its workers more than 10% above the existing rate in the hospital or long-term care home for the relevant profession. An agency is also forbidden from poaching employees from hospitals or long-term care homes.

QUOTES:

"The rise of for-profit staffing agencies is bleeding Ontario’s health system dry – $9.2 billion over a decade, with costs nearly doubling while investment in permanent hospital staff has stagnated. This bill is a call for an urgent course correction. By capping agency use and reducing reliance on costly for-profit agencies, we can pursue the real solution to staffing shortages: retaining and recruiting permanent staff by improving working conditions, competitive compensation, safe workloads and supportive practice environments. That’s how we protect patient care and the public purse."

• Dr. Doris Grinspun, RN, PhD, O.ONT. CEO, RNAO

“It's time for all members of the Ontario legislature to support this bill: for-profit staffing agencies are draining billions of dollars from our healthcare system, damaging staff morale, and disrupting patient care. The staffing crisis requires a real solution: an investment in full-time jobs, decent working conditions, and fair compensation for all staff. That's the efficient way to deliver quality health care."

• Rachel Fleming from OCHU/CUPE’s RPN committee

BACKGROUND:

Last month the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report showing that Ontario hospitals spent $9 billion on nursing agencies in the past decade. Report author Andrew Longhurst said, “the use of for-profit staffing agencies is part of a vicious cycle that hollows out the public sector workforce, thereby increasing hospitals’ dependence on private agencies.”