‘It’s going to bankrupt health care’: Spending on temp agency nurses up more than 550% since pre-pandemic at one Toronto hospital network – Toronto Star http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/04/31/hospital_fees_coveted_by_health_industry.html
‘It’s going to bankrupt home care’? In one Toronto nursing home, it already has. And it’s not a temporary agency hire either
Samantha Bowers
June 1st, 2016
It’s not just a growing trend, but one that’s becoming something of an industry, and the way business is going, it could soon be mandatory.
A temp agency hired 60 temporary nurses at a private nursing home on the island of Bermuda, where a virus broke out. Since then, five more have been hired in the same location, all from temp agencies, according to a CBC report.
One nursing home has since hired seven permanent nurses, including six from a temp agency.
When I was living in Toronto, one of the first times I was told that the nursing home where I worked could no longer provide me with the levels of care I was paying for at home was in early spring. The reason? They couldn’t find enough staff to staff the home — they were already full.
What did I do? I began to apply for temp agencies. I had my own ideas on how I wanted my care plan to look, but rather than go to an agency with ideas of what I was looking for, I would seek out what I wanted myself. And I was not satisfied with the ideas other agencies had given me. So, I ended up having my own, more professional-looking care plan, my own budget — and I received care.
When I told my friends in the industry about my temp agency plan, it was a total surprise to them. They would ask me how long I was going to be at my job, and I would have to say “6 months,” but my friends would tell me “good for you” — and they’d probably tell me that if I were their own mother, I’d be in the same situation. I’d never had people respond that way before
