The Tories have lots of questions about the response to the Auditor General’s report on travel nurses, which uncovered questionable spending activity.

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.

That doesn’t sit well with Health Critic Barry Petten, who says failing to acknowledge a problem means the problem won’t be fixed.

Petten says they brought the issues forward some time ago, but the government balked at them.

He says John Hogan was told about exorbitant rental costs in central Newfoundland, but dismissed their concerns of conflict of interest.

“Now the Auditor General is reporting a lot of what we already knew, but it’s even worse than we thought,” says Petten.