The CEO of NL Health Services maintains that there was a reduction in cost as the result of a drop in the use of agency nurses by the health authority.

Dr. Pat Parfrey announced in February that the use of private agency nurses had dropped by 42 per cent, but Auditor General Denise Hanrahan suggests that a 30 per cent reduction in the agency nurse headcount for the year ending March 31st of 2025 did not result in a proportional decrease in spending.

Parfrey says that’s because the bill occurred in 2023, but the invoices weren’t paid until 2024.

“Costs have definitely come down,” says Parfrey. “It appears as though there is flat spending, but that’s not the truth because the $16 million paid out in the third quarter of 2024 should have been applied in 2023, and a reduction applied in 2024.”

Hanrahan also suggested that the drop in agency nurses was the result of “an inability of agencies to provide the number of nurses requested.” Parfrey disputes that contention.

“I don’t believe that to be true,” says Parfrey. “I think that these are the numbers that we needed and these are the numbers that we got.”