Rise in for-profit agency nurse costs in Ontario hospitals 'exorbitant,' says researcher

Hospitals turn to staffing agencies when they can't fill shifts, which further exacerbates staffing shortages

Amina Zafar · CBC News · Posted: May 12, 2025

While Ontario funds training for new nursing graduates, hospital spending on agency nurses and other workers is increasing faster than for permanent staff, new research shows. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Ontario hospitals paid for-profit staffing agencies $9.2 billion over a decade, a finding that comes as one hospital aims to stop its use of temp services by September.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives commissioned Monday's report, titled Hollowed Out: Ontario Public Hospitals and the Rise of Private Staffing Agencies. It focused on increased spending on the agencies for nurses, allied health professionals and administrative support staff from 2013-14 to 2022-23.

Hospitals and long-term care homes turn to staffing agencies when they can't fill all of their shifts with employees. Temporary agency health-care workers allow them to continue providing services during staff shortages, although they charge up to triple the regular hourly rate, hospitals have said.

Real spending on agencies nearly doubled, from $21 per capita to $41 over the study period, according to Andrew Longhurst, a political economist at Simon Fraser University, and the report's author. In comparison, public hospital employed staff increased from $604 per capita to $641 over the same time in the province.

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