Hogan still silent on agency nurse healthcare scandal

Unions and the province’s official opposition party aren’t relenting in their calls for investigations and accountability more than a week after Newfoundland and Labrador Auditor General Denise Hanrahan released a bombshell report exposing mismanagement in the use of agency nurses in the province, including potential fraud.

On Thursday Registered Nurses’ Union President Yvette Coffey took aim at Premier John Hogan, who has yet to publicly address the healthcare scandal, which Hanrahan says has resulted in the province paying upward of $400,000 on average per agency nurse over the past couple of years.

“The premier’s silence in the face of confirmed mismanagement and potential misconduct undermines the trust nurses and the public place in elected leadership,” Coffey said. “He was Minister of Health. He was Attorney General. His government signed the cheques, and now he doesn’t want to answer for it.”

NL Health Services, the province’s health authority, spent $241-million on agency nurses between 2022 and 2024, according to the auditor general. That’s up to four times the salary of local registered nurses, PC leader Tony Wakeham has argued. “Public nurses were denied benefits, pushed into arbitration over overtime, and treated as an afterthought,” Wakeham said last week. “The Premier, who once served as both Minister of Health and Attorney General, has remained absent and silent, even as the AG pointed to potential criminality and conflict of interest.”

Coffey said Thursday the RNU has “had nurses denied vacation, overtime, and professional development – nickel-and-dimed over every cent – while agency nurses enjoyed inflated wages and special treatment. Despite their unwavering commitment to this province, [registered nurses] and [nurse practitioners] have been sidelined, while public funds have flowed freely to private interests.”

The RNU says trust in decision-makers has been “broken,” and “confidence in the system has been shaken.” The union says it’s vital that the province repair the broken trust. “We are calling on this government to do the hard work of restoring trust,” Coffey said. “That means full accountability, respect for the public healthcare workforce, and finally delivering on the promises they’ve made.”

On Friday PC Shadow Minister for Health and Community Services Barry Petten said in a statement that Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell has been “deflecting” during questions from the media. “If the minister is genuinely committed to uncovering how this Liberal travel nurse scandal was allowed to happen and ensuring it doesn’t happen again, she will stop deflecting and join our call for a full judicial inquiry. Only then can we ensure accountability and better healthcare for all of us.”

The PCs, the provincial NDP, and the Registered Nurses’ Union have all called for investigations into the province’s handling and mismanagement of agency nurses. The auditor general’s investigation was prompted by a letter NDP MHA Jordan Brown wrote to Hanrahan in December 2023, requesting the audit.

“Given the enormous strains that our healthcare system is currently facing, I am concerned that government is rushing to fill the gaps without a coherent plan,” Brown, who represents Labrador West, wrote in the letter. “In doing so, government could be spending more than necessary and opening up the public system to creeping privatization that will ultimately erode its effectiveness and universality.”

Hogan has made multiple appearances since the report dropped June 25 but has not publicly commented on the matter.