‘It’s going to bankrupt health care’: Spending on temp agency nurses up more than 550% since pre-pandemic at one Toronto hospital network
Lack of nurses will lead to the death of the entire healthcare industry, warns medical group.
By: Paul Martin
The numbers, however, are startling. In an effort to deal with a shortage of nurses, the Toronto hospital network has brought on more temporary nurses than it has nurses, and more temporary nurses per capita than anywhere else in Canada. And in a city with a population of just over 2 million, this is a whopping 550% increase over pre-pandemic staffing levels. This has led to deaths at numerous institutions in the city. For example, the Toronto General hospital in Etobicoke has run out of ventilators, and patients are starting to die. The Toronto General also runs out of non-life supporting drugs.
In March, Toronto General Hospital closed the emergency department, which had been treating over 10,000 patients a month. It is expected to be another two months before the hospital can begin to move patients to other hospitals for treatment. In the meantime, patients who can speak cannot access the hospital’s website. In May, the hospital ran out of non-life supporting drugs.
The numbers are staggering, to say the least, as it has been revealed that the staff who signed up to work at the hospital, were paid anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000-a-month. There are no more nurses available in Toronto.
Lack of nurses will lead to the death of the entire healthcare industry, warns medical group
Toronto General is not alone. As of June 30, the Toronto-area’s four other acute care hospitals had run out of ventilators and drugs, which means critical patients are dying. This means the lives of over two hundred patients may be in danger. A similar situation is taking place at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. The hospital is facing the same problems, with patients’ lives in danger and patients dying.
As health care workers continue to die, the healthcare industry is beginning to suffer. This has now happened at all five of the
