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Catholic Health Australia is urging urgent national reforms to tackle hospital bed block, arguing coordinated action across health, aged care, disability and housing is essential.

Catholic Health Australia has called for system-wide reform to address hospital bed block across the country, warning the issue is not simply a hospital problem but a “care economy” challenge requiring coordinated action across health, aged care, disability services and housing. 

The organisation hosted a parliamentary roundtable in Canberra on 2 July to discuss reforms aimed at reducing the growing number of patients who remain in hospital despite being medically fit for discharge. 

Hospital Bed Block Reaches Record Levels

It comes weeks after the NSW Government announced its own measures to ease hospital bed block, saying almost 1,300 hospital beds across the state were occupied by patients waiting for Commonwealth-funded aged care or NDIS placements. 

New analysis from CHA shows hospital bed block has increased 60 per cent, from 286,050 bed days in 2020-21 to 460,122 in 2023-24, costing the healthcare system up to $1.6 billion annually.  

Hospital bed block measures the number of days patients remain in hospital despite being ready for discharge. 

Most patients affected are frail older Australians who are left stranded waiting for residential aged care, home care packages or disability supports.

CHA argues this reflects a fragmented care economy, where hospitals, aged care, disability services and housing all depend on one another but are funded and managed separately. 

The organisation says prolonged hospital stays not only reduce bed capacity and delay elective surgery but also expose patients to functional decline, hospital-acquired complications and a poorer quality of life.

Calls for National Reform and Better Coordination

The roundtable was attended by CHA acting chief executive Dr Katharine Bassett, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae MP, chaired by Dr Mike Freelander MP, with support from industry super fund HESTA. 

In a statement ahead of the meeting, Dr Bassett said bed block required industry-wide reform. 

“Thousands of Australians are occupying acute hospital beds right now simply because there is nowhere else for them to go,” she said. 

“You can’t fix this inside the hospital walls alone. The reform has to be system-wide and it has to be urgent.” 

CHA is calling for a national reform package that includes 600 transition beds to provide short-term, non-urgent care while patients await permanent aged care or disability supports, along with 150 liaison officers and 150 discharge planners to help coordinate patients across the healthcare system. 

The organisation also wants transition measures embedded in the next National Health Reform Agreement, together with improved data sharing and greater accountability across governments and care providers.

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Republished with thanks to The Catholic Weekly. Image courtesy of Adobe.