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Ontario hospitals spent over $9B on agency staff over 10 years, study finds
A recent study reveals that over a decade, hospitals in Ontario allocated more than $9 billion toward hiring nurses and other personnel through private staffing agencies.
This spending surge coincided with a 331 per cent rise in hospital job vacancies and a near doubling of agency staffing costs during this period.
In 2022-23, agency personnel contributed a very small fraction of direct care hours in hospitals—just four-tenths of one percent—but their involvement accounted for six percent of overall hospital labour expenditures, with rural and northern facilities experiencing particularly high financial impacts.
Study author Andrew Longhurst highlighted that Ontario taxpayers are not receiving adequate benefits for their expenditures and called for a gradual elimination of staffing agencies, alongside a $2 billion increase in hospital base funding.
Ontario re-introduced legislation in late 2024 to increase agency billing transparency, but it stalled before the election, while reliance on costly agencies continues to undermine permanent staffing.