1,600 RAC customers stranded in hospital – who will care for them?

Australia lost $877 million on older patients stuck in hospital in 2022-23. With few new beds and Home Care Packages available and the ageing population increasing, those numbers will only rise. Higher levels of dementia care and palliative care and Hospital in the Home must be the solution.

438,779 hospital days were lost due to elderly Australians waiting for a bed in residential aged care in 2022-23, according to newly released data from the Productivity Commission.

Shockingly, around four in 10 of those people wait more than nine months for a bed. Our analysis of State Health Department data has found that the numbers – sitting at around 2,000 in mid-2024 – have dropped little in the past eight months. See below.

New South Wales:

As of 29 January 2025, 455 patients were waiting in public hospitals for aged care placements. The average waiting time for discharge was 42 days beyond expected discharge.

Queensland:

In November 2024, 615 patients were long-term hospital patients, with 423 awaiting residential aged care. The median wait time for these patients to be discharged after being clinically fit was 24 days. The state is working with private aged care facilities and NDIS to address the backlog.

Western Australia:

In December 2024, 170 patients in metropolitan hospitals were cleared for discharge but waiting for aged care. The average waiting time was 14.4 days, with a maximum wait of 98 days.

Victoria:

The only state without specific data available on the number of patients waiting for aged care beds.

South Australia:

236 patients were waiting for aged care beds in hospitals.

Northern Territory:

96 patients were identified as suitable for aged care, with wait times varying across regions (from no wait time to up to six months).

Tasmania:

As of 15 January 2025, 43 patients in major hospitals were waiting for aged care beds. Wait times vary from weeks to months.

Total:

That is 1,615 older Australians lying in hospital beds waiting for aged care – while Victoria’s figures are unavailable, given the size of its population, this figure could easily be around 1,800 or higher.

Worse, these ‘stuck’ patients are often those least suited to long-term hospital stays, namely patients with specialist dementia care or complex care needs such as morbid obesity, dialysis, multiple chronic conditions, psychiatric illness or violent behaviours. Aged care providers and nurses’ unions tell us that hospitals are the worst environment for people living with dementia.

“Often hospital settings can lead to dementia patients becoming aggravated and violent, which poses safety risks to those patients, nursing staff, and other patients in the wards,” a spokesperson for the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association told SATURDAY.

While there is specialist training for nurses available, few have completed it. But every one of these patients is left on their own in their bed without companionship or activities – a far cry from the support they would receive in residential aged care or under the NDIS.

Is there an answer?

Supply of hospital and aged care beds will never keep up with demand. The solution must therefore lie in the home – and this is where providers such as HammondCare and Amplar Health are looking to take the lead. Our cover, HammondCare CEO Andrew Thorburn, shares his new strategy for the 93-year-old Christian Not For Profit in this issue. He sees an opportunity for HammondCare to take its expertise in dementia and palliative care and deliver complex care in the home at scale. We also feature Robert Read, the Group Lead of the Medibank-owned Amplar Health. He sees an opportunity for the home healthcare provider to take its Hospital in the Home strategy across the country and is also focusing on prevention programs that will keep people out of scarce hospital beds.

Both executives hope to show the way for other operators to follow suit. The Government is throwing cash at the States to solve this crisis. But as our numbers show, these people cannot wait for Governments to get their act together. Operators must step up – who will join HammondCare and Amplar and help them?