Even in my EU country, with a decent public healthcare system, the staffing shortages have increased post-covid and are only getting worse.

The irony is that the staff shortages are further amplifying the shortages, as stressed out staff is leaving the field and youngsters want to avoid this profession when they hear about the stress of dealing with the shortages.

It's like the rolling snowball effect.

The obvious solution is to pay staff much more, but with what money? We can't print anymore cheap money as we're already in an inflationary environment and we can't raise taxes any further as people already pay enough taxes and we've already committed more money to the military after the Russian invasion. Politicians are in a pickle.

I don't see any evidence that was actually in supply though. The executive leadership seems to have done nothing to interrupt the rampant overuse of ventilators or remdesivir, both of which were actively harmful to Covid patients. They also all lined up behind the vaccine mandates which had absolutely zero benefit in reducing transmission and aggravated the staffing problems. They're far more deserving of pink slips than bonuses.