14/07/2026
One nurse walking away costs $49,255. Keeping one costs $100.
WA just committed $20.3 million over four years to support up to 240 older Australians a year through home-based nursing care. Worthwhile investment. But look at the number sitting right next to it.
Australian research puts the average cost of replacing a single nurse at around $49,255 — recruitment, temporary cover, lost productivity while a new hire gets up to speed. Multiply that by a workforce under sustained pressure, and attrition isn't a line item. It's a slow bleed.
At $100 a year per nurse for real health and workforce sustainability support, that $49,255 replacement cost could instead fund, almost 500 nurses for a year. Zoom out further: the $20.3 million WA is spending to help 240 patients could, at that same $100/year rate, support over 200,000 nursesmore than half the national workforce.
We don't have a shortage of will to invest in health outcomes. We have a blind spot: the nurse is the outcome. Every dollar spent keeping her well and in the workforce is a dollar that never becomes a $49,255 replacement bill, and never becomes a gap in someone's care.
Retention isn't a soft metric. It's the cheapest form of workforce sustainability we're not funding.
If keeping a nurse costs $100 and losing one costs $49,255, why is that math not driving every workforce budget in the country?
Older Western Australians will be provided wearable alert devices and access to nursing, personal care and allied health support as they transition out of hospital.
