Hospital bed block has soared by 60 per cent in the past three years, new analysis from Catholic Health Australia has revealed. Source: The Australian.
It has sparked calls for the Albanese Government to fund 600 “transition” beds or risk exacerbating an issue already costing the health system up to $1.6 billion a year.
Catholic Health Australia has released data showing that the number of days patients were kept in hospital despite being ready for discharge into aged care increased from 286,050 in 2020-21 to 460,122 in 2023-24.
The figures come ahead of a roundtable today between CHA and government officials, including Aged Care Minister Sam Rae, who will likely be pushed to release 60,000 extra homecare packages a year and open up 5000 additional places in residential aged care.
However, given the budget and workforce constraints facing the Commonwealth, CHA also proposed a short-term solution and called for Labor to fund 600 “transition beds” that would offer patients short-term, non-acute care.
“The 600 beds give patients somewhere to go while they wait for a permanent place,” CHA acting chief executive Katharine Bassett said.
“They take the immediate pressure off hospitals and, because they’re linked into aged care and community support, patients keep moving through to the right setting instead of getting stuck again,” Dr Bassett said.
“Thousands of Australians are occupying acute hospital beds right now simply because there is nowhere else for them to go. You can’t fix this inside the hospital walls alone. The reform has to be system-wide, and it has to be urgent.”
CHA’s plan also includes a proposal for 150 hospital liaison officers to be placed across the health, aged-care, disability and housing systems, with the authority to move patients through the systems as needed.
Dr Bassett said there were already such liaison officers dedicated to moving NDIS participants out of hospitals, saving millions of dollars in health system costs each year.
FULL STORY
Government warned hospital bed block up by 60 per cent (By Sarah Ison and Rosie Lewis, The Australian)
