Private nursing agencies banned from inking new contracts with Manitoba public health
Agencies need to 'play by our rules,' health minister says
Manitoba banned public health providers from signing new contracts with private nursing agencies months ago, and has now issued a request for proposals that would allow approved agencies to continue operating in the province, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says.
Premier Wab Kinew first announced the RFP in May, saying the province wanted more oversight over private nursing agencies.
The agencies are "still a reality in Manitoba," but Asagwara says the province wants to transform how they're used, and turn them from the "default to the exception."
Manitoba's public health providers currently have hundreds of contracts with over 70 private nursing agencies, Asagwara said.
"There are no policies on how those agencies should be governed, their impacts on nurses or the rates that they charge," they said.
"This RFP will change that. It's going to require agencies that want to hold a contract with Manitoba to play by our rules."
Private nursing agencies have been popping up rapidly in the province and "raking in record profits and revenues," while public health nurses are stuck in a cycle of mandatory overtime and burnout, Asagwara said.
"They're squeezing the public system for millions and millions of dollars in travel fees, mileage rates and per diems," they said.
"Frankly, for-profit nursing agencies have really turned the health-care system and staffing into a quest for the highest bidder."
The province has also partnered with the Manitoba Nurses Union to develop a travel nursing team that provides the flexibility that many nurses seek. Public health organizations have been directed to make joining the team "as seamless as possible" for nurses.
Public health-care employers spent nearly $76 million on private nursing agencies in the 2023-24 fiscal year — 40 per cent more than the previous year, said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union.
"Those numbers are growing every year, by absolutely unacceptable percentages, so we clearly are heading in a direction where we have facilities totally staffed by agency nurses," she said at the news conference.
Agencies part of the solution
Nurses are the backbone of the health-care system, but the province's move is also about prioritizing patients and the care they receive, Jackson said.
"For too long, we've seen resources drained into private for-profit agencies — money that could be far better invested in strengthening our public health-care system," she said.
"Without quality control measures or provincial standards, there is no consistency in patient care, no safeguards on fair wages and no protection on excessive hours that lead to burnout."
The RFP is part of the province's mission to decrease overtime rates for nurses in the public health system, and barring public health organizations from signing new agreements with private nursing agencies was the first step, Asagwara said.
Existing contracts will not be extinguished, as the agencies do have a role to play in Manitoba's health-care system, and the process will be done responsibly to prevent disruption, they said.
"We know that there are some really good agencies out there who want to be a part of the solution [and] we're happy to work with those folks [with] strong guardrails and guidelines, and finally some controls in place that we should have, quite frankly, had in place a long time ago."
