Two weeks after being sent home, my 83-year-old mum had a mini stroke — likely from the very medication meant to ease her pain. It’s been eye-opening, jaw-dropping, and exhausting — not just for her, but for all of us trying to fill the gaps in a care system that’s running on autopilot. This is what “aged care” really looks like from the inside.

Public hospitals in Queensland have nurse-patient ratio laws. Private hospitals don’t. In this post, I unpack the structural cracks in both systems — and why neither is coping. With Australia’s ageing population and increasing pressure on healthcare, something has to give.