More than 3000 elderly Australians are stuck in public hospitals when they should be at home or in residential aged care, state health ministers say, in what they describe as a deepening bed block crisis.
The figures come from a report card released on Friday as the state and territory ministers prepared to meet their federal counterpart, Mark Butler, in Brisbane, to negotiate the next five-year public hospital funding deal.
They say the number of “stranded” patients has risen by 630 since they appealed to the federal government to take action at their last meeting in September.
The ministers said the funding stalemate was blocking beds needed for emergency care.Credit: Dan Peled
The problem is most acute in Queensland, where more than 1,000 elderly patients are languishing in public hospital beds, followed by NSW, with more than 850.
The ministers argued that each of these patients was medically ready for discharge, but could not leave, as there were no beds for them to go to in federally managed aged care facilities.
In a joint statement, Queensland’s Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the federal government had not delivered on its responsibility.
“The states and territories have been doing the heavy lifting when it comes to Stranded Australians, delaying other Queenslanders needing emergency care,” he said.
His counterpart in New South Wales, Ryan Park, said his state was doing its part by investing in aged care outreach, hospital in the home and other initiatives.
“I’m calling on the Commonwealth to step up and do its job of providing care for aged care and NDIS patients,” he said.
Negotiations over the health budget have been held up for two years by a disagreement over how to share the rapidly rising cost burden of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Butler told ABC Radio Sydney on Thursday that talks were proceeding constructively, and he was confident a deal would be reached by the end of the year.
He said officials from health departments, premiers departments and treasuries met for a full day of talks on Monday, but ultimately the deal would be done between premiers and the prime minister.
Describing it as “a big, complex deal we have to land”, which covered disability services as well as hospital funding, Butler challenged the states to look at how efficiently and effectively their public hospitals were operating.
“Are their digital systems up to scratch? Are their patient flow systems up to scratch? I think we’re doing our bit,” he said.
“We want to work cooperatively to make sure at a time of huge increasing pressure on all of our health and aged care systems, we are getting the best bang for every single dollar that taxpayers put into the system.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rebuked Queensland for its public campaign, saying at a press conference in Canberra on Thursday that “I wrote to them in good faith… That’s how negotiations happen. If the Queensland Government is serious about actually getting a breakthrough, they’ll act in a mature way and engage in response to the letter that I sent in good faith.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
