{"id":47881,"date":"2026-04-11T19:11:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=47881"},"modified":"2026-04-11T19:11:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:11:01","slug":"maritime-provinces-to-create-public-travel-nurse-agency-p-e-i-health-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=47881","title":{"rendered":"Maritime provinces to create public travel nurse agency, P.E.I. health minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"ttsIcon-cIBsl\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"toggletip-tKLKF ttsToggleTip-DSCNQ\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"toggletipInfoButton-yoX4E\" aria-label=\"More information\" aria-controls=\":R89qn5:\" aria-describedby=\":R89qn5:\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" focusable=\"false\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><path d=\"M11 7H13V9H11V7ZM11 11H13V17H11V11ZM12 2C6.48 2 2 6.48 2 12C2 17.52 6.48 22 12 22C17.52 22 22 17.52 22 12C22 6.48 17.52 2 12 2ZM12 20C7.59 20 4 16.41 4 12C4 7.59 7.59 4 12 4C16.41 4 20 7.59 20 12C20 16.41 16.41 20 12 20Z\" fill=\"black\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The P.E.I. government says it is working with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to reduce reliance on travel nurses.<\/p>\n<p>Health Minister Cory Deagle said deputy ministers and health authorities across the Maritimes are developing a plan for a regional public travel-nurse agency, aimed at moving away from costly private contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t think any province can afford to keep paying these astronomical prices. Right now, we don&#8217;t have any other option, we don&#8217;t have enough nurses to fill the positions we have,\u201d Deagle told reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we do need them but we&#8217;ve got to find a way to manage the cost \u2026 and create our own unit that the provinces would own. And if nurses wish to travel that&#8217;s fine \u2014 but they&#8217;d be part of that and we&#8217;re not going to use private companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that relying on travel nurses also causes tension on the front lines because they are paid far more than the staff nurses working beside them. The province spent about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/prince-edward-island\/pei-auditor-general-report-travel-nurses-spending-9.7114777\" target=\"_blank\">$28.5 million<\/a> on travel nurses in the 2024-25 fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>Other regions have taken steps to reduce reliance on private nursing agencies. In Quebec, legislation adopted in 2023 aimed at ending dependence on agencies has led to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/health-care-workers-moving-from-private-to-public-1.7238027\" target=\"_blank\"><u>thousands of health-care workers moving into the public system<\/u><\/a>. More recently, the New Brunswick government introduced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/new-brunswick\/nb-travel-nurse-contract-cancelled-1.7487799\" target=\"_blank\"><u>legislation to cancel a multimillion-dollar contract with a travel-nurse staffing agency<\/u><\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p>Deagle said it is still too early to say exactly how the model would work, but it would require all three provinces to agree to stop using private nursing agencies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think nurses would say, \u2018OK, well, that opportunity isn&#8217;t there anymore to go make, perhaps sometimes almost double the wage, so I&#8217;ll have to work in the public system, or if I&#8217;d like to move around in the Maritimes, I can work within this Maritime unit,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea is to cut back and incentivize people to work in the public system, and not for private agencies, which costs government a significant amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added the provinces would work to standardize licensing so nurses could move more easily between jurisdictions, similar to how<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/prince-edward-island\/pei-atlantic-registry-little-impact-1.7488934\" target=\"_blank\"><u> the Atlantic Physician Register<\/u><\/a> allows doctors to practise across the four Atlantic provinces without additional licensing requirements.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the proposed Maritime unit, standard practices and wages would also need to be aligned across the region, Deagle said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"imageMedia image full\">\n<div class=\"placeholder\"><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 480px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/1.6872452,1775818628059\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%28230%2C0%2C1295%2C831%29%3BResize%3D796\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Nurses in a hospital.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/1.6872452,1775818628059\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%28230%2C0%2C1295%2C831%29%3BResize%3D796 796w,https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/1.6872452,1775818628059\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%28230%2C0%2C1295%2C831%29%3BResize%3D1083 1083w,https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/1.6872452,1775818628059\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%28230%2C0%2C1295%2C831%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 762px) calc(100vw - 32px),730px\" src=\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/ais\/1.6872452,1775818628059\/full\/max\/0\/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%28230%2C0%2C1295%2C831%29%3B\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5583634175691938\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"image-caption\">Deagle says even as the province continues working to train and retain more nurses, it still has no choice but to rely on travel nurses in the near term to keep the health-care system running.<!-- --> <!-- -->(CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>While the idea is still in its early stages and no timeline has been set, Deagle said P.E.I.\u2019s health-care system will continue to rely on travel nurses in the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDue to the over-capacity issues, I think we&#8217;re going to be spending more money on travel nurses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Deagle said the demand is driven by both seasonal pressures such as staff vacations in the summer, and gaps in the system.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to the intensive care unit at Prince County Hospital, which relies heavily on travel nurses because of the specialized skills and training required. Those positions are harder to recruit for, forcing the system to turn to agency staff, Deagle said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/prince-edward-island\/pei-long-term-care-spaces-9.7136743\" target=\"_blank\"><u>as more beds are added in long-term care homes across the province<\/u><\/a>, the demand for agency nurses can also increase. Many long-term care facilities, particularly in rural areas, rely on agency nurses to remain operational.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/prince-edward-island\/pei-new-maritime-travel-nurse-unit-in-development-9.7158726?cmp=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}