The shortage of nurses in European countries is caused by the poor pay, long hours and high stress working conditions in the overburdened and underfunded public

The shortage of nurses in European countries is caused by the poor pay, long hours and high stress working conditions in the overburdened and underfunded public healthcare system, not by the lack of qualified personnel. After Covid, thanks to remote work as well, many nurses switched careers to something that pays better or has more reasonable hours and flexibility. We have enough qualified people that could do the nursing job but not enough of them are willing to do it, making it basically an artificial self inflicted shortage. Private healthcare facilities had no shortage of nurses as they can charge customers whatever the current market rate is, not what the government says it should be. Increased pay and working conditions could cause nurses to return to the public sector, but then the question is "where money from?"