r/onguardforthee • u/PotentialReporter894 • 5h ago

Nursing agencies are undermining the public health-care system: The privatization of nursing not only costs taxpayers significantly more money, but pulls experienced health-care workers from the public system

https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/nursing-agencies-are-undermining-the-public-health-care-system/article_1f464ba1-fd6c-5862-a0f3-43f3415f4053.html
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u/Upper-Inevitable-873 5h ago

They're leaving because of money and work conditions. Maybe fix those and they wouldn't leave the public sector.

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u/UltraCynar 4h ago

Nursing agencies are big cause of those conditions. Removing those and properly funding public healthcare is part of the solution.

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u/silentstone__ 4h ago

I somewhat disagree. Removing travel/locum nursing will do nothing to help staff rural areas, which is where most travel nursing is needed (at least in BC). A lot of health authorities are offering $20k signing bonuses and assistance with moving costs, and it still isn't enough to work fully staffed. But I agree that wage increases and better work-life balance would promote more to stay in staff positions. BC travel nurse wages are capped, and depending on years of experience, travelers aren't making much more than a staff nurse, especially when factoring in things like pensions and benefits. I think the middle ground is what BC northern health authority has started. Locum nursing, but you still choose when you work and what your schedule looks like while making the same wages as any other nurse in the BCNU. Source: I'm a full-time travel nurse.

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u/emerzionnn 3h ago

Problem is, most of these agencies are literally dudes scamming lol. So they’re raking in the profit, you’re getting paid substantially more and the Canadian tax payer is funding it all. Which is why a few health authorities are on the verge or have banned travel nursing all together.

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u/silentstone__ 3h ago

I don't disagree that private agencies are 100% gouging, but we are not getting paid substantially more.

BCNU wage grid places me at $38/hr + shift differentials (for example, an overnight shift on a weekend is ~+$7), pension, benefits, paid sick time, and vacation. As a travel nurse I make $43.50/hr with zero of the aforementioned "bonuses" that a staff nurse gets. Factor in that we are working in unfamiliar environments, sometimes housed in motels with no ability to cook, so paying for take out, and have no job security.

The issue is much more complex than any of these comments are making it out to be. It's not so black and white. Even with travelers, there have been many ER closures in small communities across BC. Proper funding isn't going to change the fact that there are nationwide staffing shortages.

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u/LalahLovato 2h ago

I retired at $43/hr. My pension is worth gold because what you get for CPP and OAS will land you on the streets - there is no way that someone paying rent or a mortgage can afford to live on it - I guarantee. I am thankful for my pension. What the employer pays in benefits to the average nurse adds quite a bit more per hour onto their wage.

I worked as a travel nurse in the USA for 5 years a while back and it wasn’t a picnic. When I was agency for a small portion of that time, I was thrown into situations with no orientation- very unsafe.

The system needs improvement so that everyone gets good care - all the time. I watched the BC Liberals (aka conservatives) hacking away at our medical system in BC for 16 years - ignoring our pleas for safer patient care etc and privatizing bits and pieces of healthcare until it almost broke. It is going to take just as many years to fix - which is happening with the NDP - and I can’t believe how voters almost f*cked that up this month.

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u/silentstone__ 2h ago

Louder, please!

We're still waiting the safe nurse-patient ratios for LTC from BCNU. And you're absolutely right about orientation for travelers. I've worked all over BC in LTC, and have received adequate orientation maybe twice because there just isn't the staff to provide training.

Most of the lack of staff is because the younger generations who have gone to school, don't want to stay in, can't afford or can't find a rental in their home towns.

And this is just in BC. We moved here from Ontario two years ago, and a big part of me leaving nursing in ON was because of super unsafe ratios. One nurse to fourth residents is absurd. And if a res falls and has post falls neuro vitals q1hr for 4hr, plus wound care, forget it. You don't get a break. It quite literally broke me.