Calls for police investigation, government apology after explosive AG report

Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister — a former registered nurse — says she is blown away by this week's auditor general's report on health-sector contracts, which found the provincial health authority has overspent millions of dollars on private agency nurses since 2022.

"Some of the things that are presented in that report are wildly outrageous, and very concerning." Krista Lynn Howell told reporters Wednesday.

"To see the lack of oversight and management of some of these contracts is certainly something that brings great alarm to us. And we wanted to ensure that this never happens again."

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services has spent $241 million on private agency nurses over the last three years. The report also found millions of dollars of ineligible expenses being paid and instances of possible fraud.

Howell's comments were made only hours after Auditor General Denise Hanrahan released her latest bombshell report, which outlined 15 recommendations for NLHS.

The health authority has accepted those recommendations, but Howell said she wants to see them expedited.

In particular, she called on the health authority to immediately begin a comprehensive audit and report any findings of fraud to authorities. She also called for a third party to provide timely budget monitoring, and for the deputy ministers of health and finance to be observers at future trustee meetings.

NLHS CEO Pat Parfrey said it was important to recognize the need for more agency nurses in the system came during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Howell said she sees the value in agency nursing to close gaps in the health-care system — but said she's still left shaking her head.

"How it ballooned into something so different is very concerning for us," she said.

"We need to have better oversight and better measures in place to assure that the best use of public funds is being demonstrated — and that NLHS is responsible for that."

PC Leader Tony Wakeham didn't mince words in his critique of both NLHS and the Liberal government. He called the findings an outrageous scandal that has been going on for too long.

"This started with a Liberal lobbyist calling the premier's office that resulted in a contract to an Ontario company, [and] we've been paying out $400,000 per nurse at the same time our own nursing staff were making a little over $100,000. And at the same time as 72 nurses in our province were given a layoff notice? It's remarkable," he said.

"I think it's a slap in the face to all of the [nurses], all of our nursing staff that work here in the province."