‘Cannoli diplomacy’ on ice as States escalate aged care funding fight
“We’re going to park the cannoli diplomacy for a little while and we’re going to get what Queenslanders deserve”
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli says the cordial, cannoli-flavoured truce with the Prime Minister is over, as States ramp up pressure on Canberra over hospital and aged care funding.
“We’re going to park the cannoli diplomacy for a little while and we’re going to get what Queenslanders deserve,” the Premier told the LNP State Council on Sunday, accusing the Federal Government of “delaying and refusing” to finalise a new five-year hospital funding deal “in the middle of a health crisis.”
Crisafulli says a shortage of Commonwealth-funded residential aged care places is costing Queensland the equivalent of one major hospital a day, with nearly 850 long-stay patients occupying hospital beds while they wait for aged care placements.
Nationally, almost 2,800 older Australians are in hospital waiting for a place.
The crunch is visible across the country. In the Northern Territory, hospitals declared a Code Yellow last week as 44 patients who should be in aged care remained in acute beds – one day after Canberra opened EOIs for a $60 million, 120-bed new aged care facility in Darwin with a time-limited build.
In South Australia, an 80-year-old woman with advanced dementia remains in hospital after being turned away by 21 facilities; last week we reported the death of Severino Priori after 312 days waiting for a place. SA currently has 231 hospital patients waiting on aged care.
In NSW, the Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding (Richard Beasley SC) recommended the State step in to add aged care capacity when shortages compromise hospital operations.
With negotiations over the National Health Reform Agreement at an impasse, the policy question remains blunt: who funds the beds – and how fast can they be built?
