Ah, but we have the modern-day version: Captain Bligh has just created a new job (Head of the Office of Climate Change within the Environmental Protection Authority) - and appointed
her husband to the position!!!
On the same day, Queensland's second largest hospital (Princess Alexandra) announced the closure of 40 beds due to lack of $$$. 
Cheers
LynnH
My wife is a nurse, and has worked at several hospitals where the beds are closed in varying amounts, for 14 years now.
The main reason why this occurs is not due to lack of funds as the media likes to portray, as the Hospital charges out the cost of a bed to the Govt depending on the services provided to look after the patient.
The real reason why beds close is due to LACK OF NURSING STAFF. If there are no nurses available to staff a bed, then the Hospital has no choice but to close the beds and send any new patients elsewhere (if beds are available).
This is a common, everyday occurance. The reality is that there is a world-wide nursing shortage. Everyday, in every hospital, in every ward, or ICU unit, or Emergency Room, or Neo-natal Unit etc, the Unit Managers are on the phones to the various Nursing Agencies around the place to try and get temporary staff to fill the vacant shifts.
But the cost to become a nurse is escalating, and the pay for the work they do is not that exciting, when you consider they have to put up with whinging prima-donna surgeons and doctors, who earn 4 times the money and more (they deserve it by the way), whinging relatives and patients, cleaning up spew and excrement all day long, difficult work hours with no weekends off, rude unit managers with no management skills ra, ra, ra, etc, etc.
There is enormous responsibilty and exposure to litigation. Who would do all this when they can get a cushy job in an office working 9-5, weekends off, nice work conditions etc for the same or even more pay? Less people are going into nursing for all the above reasons and who would blame them?
There is a nursing strike this week in Aus for more pay, and of course; the Govt is resisting. Time will tell what happens.
The very best paid nurses are earning around $80k per year. This invloves doing all the hard shifts; nights, weekends and public hols to maximise the pay rates. It is a thankless job most of the time.
The average wage for a nurse would be around $25 per hour, and will have to do the above to increase the hourly rate.
Meanwhile; my wife is earning US$90k over here in the USA. And this is not one of the best places to go for pay. There is a massive shortage of nurses here as well. Even the famous Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills where my wife worked for 2 years, is staffed primarily by traveller nurses; most of them from the Phillipines. Cedars-Sinai treats its nurses like sh*t. The turn-over rate is HUGE.
The funny thing is; most media coverage of the Healthcare situation never focuses on this problem, and I don't know why.
