There are growing calls for a public inquiry to look into New Brunswick’s travel nurse contracts.
Both the Opposition Liberals and former health minister Dorothy Shephard want to see further investigation.
It follows appearances by the departments of health and social development and the province’s two regional health authorities before a legislative committee last week.
They were called to answer questions about a scathing report from the province’s auditor general into travel nurse contracts.
Paul Martin found the Vitalité Health Network had spent over $123 million on the use of contracted health-care workers as of the end of February, with over $93 million going to Canadian Health Labs.
Martin found that Canadian Health Labs (CHL) charged significantly more than the others to provide registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and personal support workers.
In addition, one of those contracts allows for annual automatic renewals for up to five years if the company meets its obligations for fulfilment and language.
Martin’s report also raised concerns about a lack of bidding, no proper contract development, and payments being made without review.
“The overall conclusion of our work was that travel nurse contracts were not reflective of best practices and did not demonstrate value for money,” he said.
Vitalité told the public accounts committee last week that it presented nine recommendations to government to reduce its reliance on travel nurses that would have been less expensive.
Many of those involved retention efforts for New Brunswick nurses, such as bonuses and premiums for working in short-staffed units.
However, the health authority said its recommendations — which would have cost $25 million per year — were rejected and it had no choice but to hire travel nurses.
The premier, however, said Vitalité’s claim that the proposed recommendations were less expensive or would have resolved issues more quickly were “inaccurate.”
“Vitalité was proposing long-term, permanent changes to how nurses are compensated, which ultimately would have cost taxpayers significantly more,” Blaine Higgs said in a statement.
Higgs said any changes to compensation would have to be negotiated with the New Brunswick Nurses’ Union and can not be unilaterally implemented by the government.
The premier also noted there was no direction by the government or public servants for the health authority to sign long-term contracts.
“The CEO is seeking to blame non-partisan public servants for poor management decisions that she made. That is not real leadership,” said Higgs.
“The real issue is that a very poor contract was signed. We must not lose sight of that.”
In response to the premier’s comments, Vitalité President and CEO Dr. France Desrosiers said they would “opt to take the high road” and focus on providing care to their patients and communities.
