“Hundreds of people on the waiting list for aged care homes are languishing in already-stretched public hospitals because there is nowhere to take them after discharge.
As Australia’s aged care crisis deepens, there are 650 beds in NSW public hospitals alone taken by patients past their discharge date, but waiting for an aged care placement.
“Delays in access to aged care placements are a significant barrier to discharge from hospitals which impact patient flow,” a spokeswoman for NSW Health said.
This is sometimes referred to as “bed block”. …
… A handful of aged care centres are banding together in regional areas, where it’s harder to find qualified staff and there are fewer residential homes, to try a different approach to bringing down costs without sacrificing quality of care.”
Read the full article, Hundreds of elderly people stranded in public hospitals waiting for aged care (paywall), in The Canberra Times, 3 April 2025
