Cost of Private Travel Nursing Agencies Doubles

NL NDP
May 13
2 min read

For Immediate Release

May 13, 2025

NDP MHA Jordan Brown (Labrador West) called out government today on the failure of their alleged plan to reduce the need for travel nurses, highlighting that government has spent $139 million on travel nurse agencies in the past 12 months.

Last year, the former CEO of NL Health Services (NLHS) claimed that the estimated cost of travel nurses for the 2024-2025 year would be around $70 million, yet recent ATIPPs requests shows that over the past 12 months, cost have doubled.

“Government claims that they have reduced the amount of travel nurses by 40 per cent, they spent double what was expected. Things don’t add up,” said Brown.

Brown questioned government today in the House of Assembly on their lack of a plan, to reduce our reliance on travel nurses. He wonders how government can claim they have reduced their reliance on travel nurses 40 per cent yet are paying even more than we spent in 2023.

“So, I ask the Premier, who was the Minister of Health for most of the last year, how are we allegedly hiring less nurses yet spending double than what was expected?” Brown asked.

Brown says investing in local nursing staff and attracting new ones should be governments focus, not giving millions of public funds to private companies. He says there is more work that can be done, but government refuses to.

“We continue to see government throw public money into private healthcare, when that money could be used for recruiting and retaining local nurses and doctors,” said Brown.

“Government argues that we have the largest incentives for recruitment across the country, but that isn’t working.

“Government needs to address the health human resources plan which has been called for by many healthcare unions have called for. Unfortunately, it would rather invest in private companies than do the work necessary to recruit and retain health care workers.”

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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media and Communications Officer, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca