New Brunswick’s auditor general has released a report highlighting concerns about the province’s use of travel nurses. The report found that there was no bidding process or legal review for private nursing contracts and that there was no evidence that all the people hired went through criminal background checks. The auditor general also found that the $173 million the province spent on travel nurses between Jan. 1, 2022, and Feb. 29, 2024, was not justified and didn’t correlate to COVID-19-related staff vacancies. The report also raised concerns about the lack of oversight for invoices for travel nurses. The company that charged the government the most — Ontario-based Canadian Health Labs charged more than $93 million — did not go through a proper bidding process for the contract. The auditor general’s report has raised important questions about the province’s use of travel nurses and has called for more transparency and accountability in the process.
