Suse - I get my "overstaffed" from the fact that labour/unions increased the number of nurses per patient ratio, made nursing a degree subject and know that rich doctors support them. Doctors earn a handsome salary from the hospital and with added private work would put in more super money than the average health worker earns. Nurses are similarly well paid. I am sure the other miscellaneous medical workers are properly paid. In this context of course less than a Doctor puts in his super.
That leaves cleaners, porters etc. Their leadership can run to brothels and fine wine expenses on the backs of those workers. That's a whole new subject though. I remember that pipsqueak Howes braying "We will come after you" when talking about corrupt union officials. Well I think there is only one in clink and the rest will pay nothing back and anyway you have already forgotten it!

Don't be ridiculous JBower. No Union has the power to force any health provider to provide a certain number of nurses per patient ratio. There are no formal nurse to patient ratios in any health organisation in Australia, private or public, only 'recommendations'. And even if an employer 'promises fair nurse to patient ratios' it soon goes out the door as soon as anyone rings in sick!

And you can rest assured that no hospital will do what is 'recommended' staff ratio wise, because they see it as too expensive. In what way do you think Aussie nurses are well-paid? As opposed to who? The rapidly aging population of nurses in Australia does not support the notion that it is a well paid enough job to attract anywhere near as many new young nurses as it used to.

Suse I am staggered. Whenever I have been in a hospital there always seems to be plenty of nurses?
I have noticed that Public servants have always got at least half a day to moan how busy they are and how much has to be done but that could be my prejudice coming through.
I will defer to you that what you say is true and I am now going to take that nice Mr Andrews to task as I thought there was an actual nominated nurse to patient ratio.
Thank you for your assistance.

No problems JBower.
As it happens, I have just spent 3 days in hospital for minor surgery, and as I was being discharged yesterday, the poor nurses who were looking after me were all gearing up to do double shifts that evening. The weekend shifts were not covered well at that stage either.
I felt sorry for them, and glad I am now working in community nursing instead of hospital wards. I'm getting too old for double shifts!

Poirot, just so we are on the same page, are you talking about the 10% who not only pick up the slack, but also pay the bills, because if these are the ones you refer to, tell me, why don't they deserve what they get?

Having been in that bracket myself from time to time, do you think it was fair that my kids got nothing just because their dad took a huge gamble, taking my limited education into account, and ultimately earned too much.

The fact is working too hard is one of the few areas where you actually get penalized for doing so well, and the bit that is extremely frustrating is that those who benefit from your efforts, often with little to no effort are the (entitlement brigade) as rather than be grateful, they often despise your efforts with statements such as 'capitalists or snobs'.

Having been in my type of businesses all my life, there are perks that make it worth while, however I feel sorry for a specialist doctor or a barrister who has no access to such yet, after many years of hard work gets frowned upon for being a successful risk taker. It really sucks. And now you want to take negative gearing away from them as well. As if they have not already done enough for society.

Underachievers is a terrible class of people and they are growing in number as the gap between the haves and have nots widens.

As I have often said, we are all born with an opportunity to fail, its just that some of us choose not to, and you wonder why so many in cash businesses don't declare their true incomes. Its not rocket science, it's because they don't get rewarded for working hard if they do, they get punished instead. Go figure!

rehctub,

"The fact is working too hard is one of the few areas where you actually get penalized for doing so well..."

Other people in the lower socio-economic strata work hard too - and the top 10-20% expect those people to subsidise their investments.

"Underachievers is a terrible class of people and they are growing in number as the gap between the haves and have nots widens."

Don't pull out that odious lower middle-class twaddle...it means nothing.

All sorts of people work hard...it's only the top echelon that expect the lower orders to subsidise their investment decisions (in this country)...as "The Economist" analysed - it's a crazy policy.