VIC Govt continues to spend big on aged care
Victoria boosts aged care funding to ease hospital pressure
- $58m funding: Budget boost for aged care and support programs
- Hospital relief: Programs reduce older patients stuck in hospitals
- Largest network: Victoria leads with 159 public aged care homes
- Regional coverage: Many homes are sole providers in local communities
The Victorian Government, already the largest public aged care provider in the country, has committed more than $58 million to aged care in the state’s 2026-27 Budget.
The Budget spending includes $35.7 million for residential aged care and $17 million for the Government’s Residential in Reach program, which provides hospital-level nursing and geriatrician care directly into residential aged care.
Another $5.1 million will go to furthering the state’s Guardianship in Hospitals program – a program run by the Office of the Public Advocate providing substitute decision-makers for patients lacking capacity. The Government program can reduce the time patients wait in hospital to be allocated a guardian.
The State’s Minor Capital Works Renewal Program – Public Sector Residential Aged Care will receive $7.5 million.
“We’re continuing to support safer, easier and more affordable aged care for older Victorians – so they can age with dignity, close to their families and communities, while easing pressure on our hospitals,” said Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Ingrid Stitt.
Fewer stranded older hospital patients
Since Labor came to power in 2014, the Victorian Government has invested more than $800 million in its Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services (PSRACS) program – more than $270 million for Melbourne facilities and $370 million for in homes in rural and regional Victoria.
With 159 aged care homes, the state now has more public aged care facilities than any other.
In March, the Government completed a $63 million aged care facility in Mansfield, 200km north of Melbourne, at a cost of more than $2 million per bed.
Despite the high cost per of building public residential aged care beds, as of October 2025, Victoria had 246 older patients stranded in public hospitals waiting for a place in residential aged care, a lower level than other states. (No more recent data is available.)
The success is often attributed to the state’s extensive network of public aged care facilities, but Victoria also has the highest rates of community nursing, funded by the Commonwealth Home Support Programs (CHSP), than any other states.
More than 50 of Victoria’s 159 homes are the only aged care facilities in their local community.
