The Yukon Hospital Corp. and the territorial government are paying through the nose for visiting health care workers, but that seems to be the cost of doing business these days.

The information comes from research carried out by the Yukon Employees’ Union (YEU).

On Tuesday, the YEU provided The Yukon Star with a deep dive into the costs of keeping our medical facilities open.

“The Yukon Hospital Corporation (YHC), and Yukon government may rely on agency staffing to plug gaps in the health care system. But many of those gaps exist because of a high turnover rate among health care staff, and understaffing at the workplace,” YEU president Justin Lemphers said in an email.

“The only way we can plug those gaps is by offering much better wages, better work-life balance, and creating more full-time unionized staff positions at the hospitals.This will create a better incentive structure to attract new workers and also retain current ones, which will help reduce the need to rely on for-profit staffing agencies.

“If workers in the public health sector are paid better and are afforded a better work-life balance, those same workers would choose to stay within public health care.”

The YEU obtained some confidential documents from the government and corporation that outline the cost of recruiting agency workers.

“We know from internal YHC documents that management recognizes the significant cost pressures because of over-reliance on agency staffing. By adopting the solutions proposed by the Yukon Employees’ Union, YHC and the Yukon government can achieve the best outcomes for workers and healthcare users here in the Yukon.” 

Lemphers continued “there are qualified health care workers available across the country. Many Yukoners have moved here from other parts of Canada because of employment opportunities. It is a matter of offering workers a more competitive wage and work-life balance relative to other health care jurisdictions, and/or staffing agencies in Canada.”

Lemphers emphasized the documents show “the money is there, but it is a matter of prioritization from the Yukon Hospital Corporation (YHC) and the Yukon government. In 2023 alone, over $10 million was spent on agency staffing. 

“The Yukon government can also play a role in drastically increasing YHC’s staffing budget. YHC has already shown a precedent-setting willingness to pay agencies $120/hour for their workers. It is only reasonable to assume that the same pay will be afforded to full-time unionized staff who do the same work.”

The Star’s attempts to contact Pamela Hine, the new head of the hospital corporation, for a response to Lemphers’ points were unsuccessful.