The administrator of a Northern Ontario long-term care home said Queen's Park will have to decide soon on whether it plans to increase funding to offset the high cost of hiring contract nurses brought in amid a nursing shortage.
Don Cook, the administrator/support services manager at Manitoulin Centennial Manor, was responding to a Sudbury.com news story about the concern over the high cost of contract nurses expressed by the Sudbury political action chapter of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO).
Maria Casas, of the RNAO in Sudbury, recently outlined her concerns in a letter to Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Sylvia Jones and Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra.
Casas said the idea of using nurses for hire is "contributing to the breakdown of our health-care system" in Ontario. She said the contract agencies are taking advantage of the current nursing shortage in hospitals and LTC homes.
Casas said the problem is that the contract agencies are being hired for the public sector and charging expensive rates when public sector nursing homes and hospitals are in a crisis.
In an interview with Sudbury.com, Casas said the contract agencies are fine when somebody needs to hire a nurse to look after a loved one in their home or for someone with special needs. She said the problem is that the contract agencies are stepping into the public sector, which increases the cost for taxpayers.
In her letter, Casas said Ontario needs to limit agency contract nurses to home care and eliminate the use of contract nurses in the public sector.
In his comments on the difficulty involved with contract nurses, administrator Cook said "despite recruitment efforts, signing bonuses, and relocation bonuses, we are unable to attract nurses needed."
Cook said being on Manitoulin Island creates an extra layer of difficulty for hiring professional health-care workers.
"It is not just the higher per hour cost that can be double or more then union wages, it is all the expense cost that goes along with it. As we are located on Manitoulin Island, all the agencies and their staff come from out of town and we have to cover travel, meal, and accommodation costs.
“Some agencies have a lower hourly rate, but bill for every cost involved on top, while others have a higher hourly fee and less other fees, all the same in the end," Cook stated in an email to Sudbury.com.
He said the Manitoulin Centennial Manor went so far as to rent a couple of three-bedroom houses to cut down on hotel accommodation costs. The Manor is a 60-bed not-for-profit home located in Little Current.
Cook added that the Manor is not the only facility struggling with the nursing shortage and being forced to hire contract health care workers.
"I do know that the other health care facilities on Manitoulin, Manitoulin Health Centre (the hospital) and the other two nursing homes, Manitoulin Lodge in Gore Bay and the Wikwemikong Nursing Home in Wiikwemkoong first nation are all using agency staff," said Cook.
"I also know, as an Extendicare Assist Home, that all the Extendicare homes in Northern Ontario are using agency staff, and yes, it is a widespread problem that is costing us a lot of money," he wrote.
"One other comment, I also know the government has provided extra funding to hospitals recently to cover some of this extra cost and if it continues, they are going to have to provide extra money to long-term care homes as well, as we are only funded for regular staffing cost and do not have the budget to sustain staffing levels using agency staff," Cook added.
Len Gillis covers mining and health care for Sudbury.com.
