Ontario hospitals spent over $9B on agency staff over 10 years, study finds – CTV

May 12, 2025

TORONTO — Ontario hospitals spent more than $9 billion on nurses and other staff from for-profit agencies in a 10-year period, a new study concludes.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study, released Monday, examined financial statements for 134 Ontario hospital corporations as well as data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

It found that from 2013-14 to 2022-23 public hospital spending on staff increased six per cent, but their spending on private agencies increased 98 per cent.

Study author Andrew Longhurst also found that while the number of hours worked by agency staff in Ontario hospitals accounted for 0.4 per cent of all front-line worker hours in 2022-23, six per cent of hospitals’ labour costs went toward the private staff.

“So we’re seeing a really poor value for money in terms of what Ontario taxpayers are getting in return,” Longhurst said in an interview.

“What we’re seeing is that the growth in private agency staff is really crowding out hospital budgets and their ability to make investments in the long-term workforce.”

Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/politics/queens-park/article/ontario-hospitals-spent-over-9b-on-agency-staff-over-10-years-study-finds/