A view of the Georges L. Dumont Public Hospital in Moncton, New Brunswick, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. Dr. France Desrosiers, head of New Brunswick's Francophone Health Network, passionately defended Vitalité's spending on travel nurse contracts. The Canadian Press/Marc Grandmaison
FREDERICTON — The head of New Brunswick's French-speaking Vitalité Health Network today launched an impassioned defence of the organisation's spending on travel nurse contracts.
Dr. France Desrosiers told a legislative committee that the decision to contract with a private company to provide temporary nurses was a matter of “saving lives by maintaining essential services.”
The province's auditor general specifically highlighted this expenditure in a June 4 report, finding that between Jan. 1, 2022 and Feb. 29, 2024, Vitality paid more than $123 million to travel nurses, including $98 million to Canadian Health Labs, an Ontario-based organization.
The prices charged by Canadian Health Labs under its contract with Vitalité, which runs until February 2026, were described as exorbitant by Health Minister Bruce Fitch.
Desrosiers said Canadian Health Labs had a “monopoly” on bilingual staff, leaving the network with little choice but to contract with the company.
Inspector General Paul Martin also said the network had refused to release three internal audit documents to his office, but Vitality defended itself by saying the documents were protected by confidentiality agreements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2024.
Canadian Press
