New Brunswick’s auditor general has released a damning report on the use of travel nurses in the province.

The province has spent more than $173 million — and counting — on travel nurse contracts, according to the report.

“The overall conclusion of our work was that travel nurse contracts were not reflective of best practices and did not demonstrate value for money,” Paul Martin told a committee of MLAs on Tuesday.

Martin’s report focused on the Department of Social Development, Horizon Health Network, and Vitalité Health Network.

It raised a number of concerns, including a lack of bidding, no proper contract development, and payments being made without review.

Martin also found no requirements for criminal record and vulnerable sector checks in some contracts.

Biggest concerns with Vitalité Health

However, his biggest criticisms were reserved for Vitalité Health, which he said did not provide information to his office as required.

The auditor general noted the health authority refused to release a series of internal audit reports it had conducted.

“Due to the lack of cooperation from Vitalité, risks that may have been identified in the audit reports and to what extent those risks were addressed is not known,” said Martin.

Vitalité had spent over $123 million on the use of contracted health-care workers as of the end of February, with over $93 million going to Canadian Health Labs.

Martin found that Canadian Health Labs (CHL) charged significantly more than the others to provide registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and personal support workers.

The CHL contracts gave the company the right to deploy a minimum number of staff teams regardless of the actual need, according to the report.

In addition, one of those contracts allows for annual automatic renewals for up to five years if the company meets its obligations for fulfilment and language.

“While Vitalité cited the requirement for the provision of French-language services as the reason for the large contracts with Canadian Health Labs, we found that the contract only required limited French-language services in some hospitals,” said Martin.

The auditor general also noted that travel nurses were not always being provided in the areas with the most need based on staff absences due to COVID-19 and unplanned absences for other reasons.

Vitalité plans to keep using travel nurses until 2026

While Vitalité plans to keep using travel nurses until 2026, the auditor general noted that social development and Horizon focused on short-term usage.

Social development used travel nurses during a six-month period in 2022. Horizon no longer allows their use without approval from its executive leadership team.

Horizon spent nearly $48 million on travel nurses while social development expensed nearly $3 million.

The auditor general credited Horizon for its processes to ensure services paid for had been received, but noted inadequate support for payment of travel expenses.

Martin noted the largest contract signed by social development was written by the contractor and lacked adequate legal review, resulting in undue risk to the province.

The auditor general made a total of 34 recommendations to the Department of Social Development, Horizon Health Network and Vitalité Health Network.

Our newsroom has requested comment from the Horizon and Vitalité health networks.

More to come.