A scathing report from the Auditor General has uncovered significant overspending on housing for agency nurses, with some costs exceeding five times the going rate.

The report found 48 nights were charged for a hotel in Gander, totaling more than $10,000. It also uncovered a charge of $5,400 for a one-month stay in a Corner Brook hotel.

In one instance, a $689 charge was billed to NLHS from “Agency A” for a two-night hotel in Winnipeg for the spouse of a nurse in central. When asked, NLHS said they were “unable to locate any further details about (the) expense.”

AG Denise Hanrahan says he province overspent for accommodations many times

“It’s shocking to find that we were paying $3,000 in the Corner Brook area for a space for a nurse to live when the average per CMHC was about $880,” she told VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly.

“The lack of a public procurement process resulted in us spending far more money than we needed to spend.”