BRANDON — The union for health-care aides says the reliance on private agency workers by the Prairie Mountain Health region keeps rising, and hit $20.9 million in the last fiscal year.
“Agency is not an efficient use of our dollars,” said Kyle Ross of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union. “We know that a good portion of agency dollars are probably spent on travel and not on hands-on care.”
The union filed an access to information request to obtain budget data on health-care aides that show the western health authority spent $18.39 million on health care aides in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
“We’d much rather see those dollars invested to support these communities where people are actually doing the work to take care of vulnerable people,” Ross told the Brandon Sun.
The provincial government has ordered PMH to reduce the amount it spends on private agency nurses. Ross said its spending on private aides is also a problem.
“We’d like the government to address agency use, period — not just focus on nurses,” Ross said.
“When we had health care aide vacancy rates as high as 80 per cent in some places in 2024, we understood that agency needed to be used, but it’s becoming the norm. It’s basically privatizing our health-care system, and we’d really like to see a strong public system,” he said.
PMH spent $44.09 million on agencies to hire health care aides from 2021-2024.
The documents showed that in 2024, the vacancy rate across the PMH region for health care aides was more than 30 per cent, with vacant positions in some facilities ranging as high as 80 per cent.
The health authority CEO, Treena Slate, said it’s a big challenge because of the number of sites and facilities that are open 24-7, 365 days a year, “across a vast geographical area including remote and rural communities.”
Slate also said managers continually assess the care needs in facilities.
When faced with a shortage of staff, “options are considered, including other available staff resources, and prioritizing care needs,” she said in an email to the Sun, adding, “We are committed to providing consistent high-quality care.”
On Thursday, the Manitoba government ordered PMH to reduce its spending on agency nurses by 15 per cent by March 2026. In 2023, and for the first 10 months of 2024, PMH spent $45.8 million on agency nurses.
Slate said the health region is working to reduce its dependency on private agencies by finding ways to draw agency staff to PMH.
“We continue to promote training opportunities in rural communities,” Slate said, adding, “some of our biggest successes come from training people locally.”
She also said the use of the provincial travel nurse team is helping.
The team, which used to be called the nursing float pool, offers casual, part-time and full-time work at facilities across the province. It offers incentive pay, paid travel time, mileage, and accommodation for sites that are 50 kilometres away from a nurse’s home address.
A PMH employee who has worked in care homes and Brandon’s hospital for years, said the same needs to be created for aides. He requested not to be identified.
“It’s very complicated to get additional hours and get on a list outside of your site, so we need a provincial pool.”
Ross said a letter he sent to the government on Dec. 9, 2024, has not been answered. In a copy obtained by the Sun, Ross addressed his concerns about agency spending on health care aides.
The Manitoba government has added 290 net-new health care aides to the public health care system, said Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara.
“Progress takes time, but our government is committed to making Manitoba the best place to work in health care,” Asagwara said in an email to the Sun.
— Brandon Sun