PEI union says province’s reliance on agency nurses hurts health care

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The president of the P.E.I. Nurses’ Union is once again raising the alarm over the province’s growing dependence on private agency nurses, which it says is costing taxpayers millions and weakening the public health-care system.

Barbara Brookins, president of the union, said in an interview that government spending on agency nurses has increased in the past few years from just $27,000 in 2020-21 to a projected $20.8 million for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2025.

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She said in the new 2025-26 budget received by the union, the province is only forecasting $3.1 million for agency nurses. Brookins said it doesn’t make sense based on current and past spending.

“The usage of agency nurses has continued to escalate over the last few years. So, if all of a sudden, they feel that it’s going to just suddenly drop to 3.1 million, they haven’t shown us any strategies that they would be putting in place to make that a reality. So, it’s just not realistic to think that they’re going to be able to cut it back from 20.8 million this year to three million next year.”

Brookins said she understands the need for temporary staffing at times, but warned that depending heavily on private agency nurses is much more expensive than investing in permanent employees. She said the cost to hire an agency nurse can be three times as high as a permanent nurse’s salary, and agency nurses can leave at any time because they aren’t tied to the system.

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Health P.E.I. said in an email to The Guardian that over the last few years, it has experienced a significant number of nursing vacancies across the system and that the short-term use of travel nurses has allowed for continued care for Islanders and reduced pressure on current nurses created by chronic staffing shortages.

Retention problems

But Brookins said the use of agency staff has increased, and it is also making it harder for permanent nurses to stay in the system. Many are working part-time instead of full-time because they can’t get the time off they’re owed for vacation, professional development, or even basic personal needs.

“We’re recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, but we’re not retaining the nurses. We’re not keeping the nurses in place right now and providing them with stability in their jobs, so that they will commit to full-time work,” she said.

Health P.E.I. also said that it is adopting several initiatives to help move towards a more permanent workforce. That includes 80 new internationally-educated nurses who will begin work at Health P.E.I. this year and offers of employment that have been made to 63 RN graduates.

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“We look forward to them joining our team. Our new flexible hiring initiative is converting more than 200 part-time nursing positions into full-time roles, bringing stability and enhancing recruitment and retention. We are working closely with our union partners to increase hiring.”

Brookins said filling the 200 full-time registered nurse positions won’t solve the shortage that exists.

“It still shows that the holes are still there, and even filling the 200 new jobs doesn’t address the 285 jobs that already existed.”

Contract negotiations

The union is preparing for a new round of contract negotiations following the expiration of its agreement in March. Brookins said the union will be pushing for higher salaries to keep pace with other Atlantic provinces, but also for stronger support systems that allow nurses to work full time and take the time off they are entitled to.

“We need to be placing more focus on ensuring that our own permanent staff are being compensated to the levels that they want to use to pay for someone to come in and work temporarily.”

Brookins also warned that if conditions in the public system don’t improve, more nurses could start leaving for private health-care jobs, something she says could have serious consequences for the public system.

Vivian Ulinwa is a reporter for The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. She can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @vivian_ulinwa.

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