The staff is there. The bottleneck is anticipating demand and allocating resources without resorting to agency or overtime.

Labour cost represents 50 to 60 per cent of hospital budgets. The nursing shortage has driven agency staff usage to record levels, costing 2 to 3 times more than in-house staff. Overtime systematically exceeds budget by 15 to 25 per cent. Nursing turnover reaches 18 to 27 per cent annually, and each departure costs between EUR 40,000 and 65,000 in recruitment, training, and lost productivity. Nurse-to-patient ratios directly affect clinical outcomes: each additional patient per nurse increases 30-day mortality by 7 per cent. Reactive scheduling is not just a financial problem; it is a patient safety risk.

Grand View Research, AHA 2024