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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The territorial government has paid more than $2 million in finders fees over the past two years to agencies who locate out-of-territory nurses for short-term contract work.

The figure, which totals all fees paid from April 2006 to April 2008, does not include money spent toward flights, accommodations or salaries - only the per-head, per-day figure paid out to headhunters.

The Stanton Territorial Hospital spent more than $60,000 in finders fees for agency nurses in the past two years. - Lauren McKeon/NNSL Photo

Despite the money spent, agency nurses are only used "as a last resort," said Greg Cummings, deputy minister of Health and Social Services.

"But, we recognize at the end of the day with the shortage there is nationally and internationally there will be times when we're unable to find a replacement on our own," he added.

"In which case we go to an agency and the agency sometimes will be more successful than us at finding someone to come in and take the position."

Among the seven health authorities in the territory those in the Sahtu and Beaufort Delta areas spend the most - $882,617 and $700,201 respectively - and required the most nurses for each day. Each used agency nurses for more than 2,000 days in two years, representing more than one agency nurse each day. But, no hospital in the territory was exempt from using agency nurses. Stanton Territorial Hospital has paid $61,723 in agency finders fees and used agency nurses for a total of nearly 500 days.

However, with all the cash doled out to agencies during the past two years Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins is wondering if the quick fix solution will cause long-term problems.

"This is a short-term solution and what we've done is turned a short-term solution into a long-term, permanent policy," he said.

"I'm not convinced we're getting a long term value out of it - we're getting a long term expense ... no one is really investing into the solution."

On June 12 of this year, during a legislative assembly meeting, Hawkins requested Health Minister Sandy Lee provide the breakdown of money spent on finders fees. The document was made public this month.

"The thing is there's always going to be a place for agency nurses because the chances of filling every single nursing position within the NWT with a full-time indeterminate staff, I don't see as a possibility," said Kristy Feltham, president of the Registered Nurses Association of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

"It doesn't have anything to do with the quality of care that's being provided by the individual nurses," she added.

Continuity of care can become an issue, though, she said.

"It would be much better to have permanent staff in the positions because then you have full-time staff members that get to know the communities."

The GNWT has contracts with three nursing agencies: the Canadian Health Care Agency, Nightingale Nursing Group and Multi Options Nursing Inc. Each agency charges different fees depending on what type of nurse is needed.

For instance, it can cost $175 to find a nurse-in-charge willing to come North but only $100 to find a general duty nurse.

"Of course our preference is to avoid paying the fee," said Cummings.

Health and Social Services also prefers to hire agency nurses for a minimum of six weeks if it must hire a short-term nurse at all, he said.

"That's our ideal, the reality is sometimes we can only get people for one week," he admitted.

"We can't allow communities to go without coverage, at what we would call essential services levels."