State and territory health ministers will lobby their federal counterpart, Mark Butler, to take \u201cimmediate\u201d action on aged care bed block, with more than 3600 patients languishing in state hospitals across Australia. <\/p>\n
Bed block occurs when a patient has been cleared for discharge but is forced to continue to occupy a hospital bed because there are no federally funded aged care or NDIS placements available.<\/p>\n
State and territory health ministers will use Friday\u2019s health ministers\u2019 meeting to demand Mr Butler set up more Support at Home packages to facilitate the return of stranded patients to home settings. <\/p>\n
The federal government has committed $1.7bn in the May budget to build 5000 more aged care beds, though NSW Health Minister Ryan Park has warned this could \u201ctake some time\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am concerned the prevalence of bed block is accelerating and is far beyond sustainable,\u201d he said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work constructively with the commonwealth including on issues such as seeing a more immediate response to this crisis, including the delivery of more commonwealth Support at Home packages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said \u201cvulnerable patients\u201d needed to be moved out of the state\u2019s \u201cbusy, noisy hospitals and into more appropriate settings so they can get the care they deserve\u201d. <\/p>\n
SA Health Minister Blair Boyer warned the number of aged care patients waiting for a bed was about the same as one of the state\u2019s largest metro hospitals. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we were able to get them into an aged care bed, it would free up a whole hospital so we could treat those patients that need it,\u201d Mr Boyer said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is putting a huge demand on our healthcare system, as the new beds we\u2019ve added to the system are being taking up by aged care patients.\u201d <\/p>\n
The number of Australians stranded in hospitals waiting for aged care placements rose from 2700 in mid 2025 to more than 3600 in mid 2026.<\/p>\n
This year, Queensland had the highest number of patients at 1272, followed by NSW at 1027, South Australia at 476, WA at 423, Victoria at 302, Tasmania at 78 and ACT at 80. <\/p>\n
Bed block has placed immense pressure on public hospital systems already under strain, with state leaders insisting these systems were not designed as \u201calternatives or substitutes to aged care facilities\u201d. <\/p>\n
NDIS applications take about 56 days to be approved, while aged care assessments can take up to 11 months for standard applications.<\/p>\n
In NSW, the burden of discharge delays prompted a six-month probe by the NSW Productivity and Equality Commission to find ways to relieve pressure on hospitals.<\/p>\n
It will assess the cost and impact of the almost 1000 patients stranded in hospitals across the state, as of April, while awaiting commonwealth government aged care placements.<\/p>\n
Alongside the investigation, a joint hospital discharge taskforce is set to be co-led by the commonwealth and NSW governments to improve outcomes for patients following an agreement at a health ministers\u2019 meeting earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State and territory health ministers will lobby their federal counterpart, Mark Butler, to take \u201cimmediate\u201d action on 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