Qld politics: Heartbreaking reason behind state’s crippling hospital bed block
Health Minister Tim Nicholls has demanded the federal government step up amid the latest damning revelations of hospital bed block.
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Queensland is spending nearly half a billion dollars a year keeping the elderly in hospital longer than needed because they have nowhere else to go, new data has revealed.
It has prompted Health Minister Tim Nicholls to demand the federal government step up and add more aged care capacity, rather than passing the buck to Queensland’s struggling health care system.
New health data provided to The Courier-Mail revealed there were 783 long-stay patients - people who have been in hospital for 30 days or longer and could not be discharged due to a lack of appropriate outside care - spread across the state.
The daily cost of caring for these patients was $1.62m or $592m annually.
Of that, $443m was attributed to patients waiting specifically for residential or home care, with the remainder on those awaiting disability care.
The clogging up of critical hospital beds comes as the LNP government forges ahead with the hospital expansion plan to deliver 2600 new beds, at a cost not yet disclosed but expected to be in the billions.
Mr Nicholls said the federal government in recent years was increasingly not meeting its responsibilities to supply needed aged care, especially in regional Queensland.
“We can take into account the things we can control, but we can’t control everything,” he said.
“And one of the things we can’t control is the availability of aged care housing.
“Now, make no mistake about it, this is a Commonwealth responsibility.
“They receive the taxes from taxpayers in Queensland to provide that funding, and they are failing, and it’s causing enormous problems in our health and hospital systems.”
His plea comes just weeks out from the federal government’s once-in-a-generation aged care reforms coming into effect on July 1.
One component of the reforms is a new Support at Home program to provide support such as nursing care, occupational therapy and everyday living to help more people stay in their homes for longer.
Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler said the government was spending more than $120m to get Queensland’s elderly long-stay patients out of hospital beds and into aged care.
He said the funding also focused on health outreach services that would decrease the need hospital stays.
AMAQ president Nick Yim said long-stay patients were a big contributor to bed block, which stopped patients being admitted from emergency department, caused ambulance ramping, and extended wait times.
Dr Yim called for better co-ordination between the Queensland and Commonwealth governments to provide more beds in aged care, the disability care system and those experiencing homelessness.
The bulk of long-stay patients were in the state’s southeast, with 105 at Metro South Hospital and Health Service, 65 in Metro North, and 53 on the Gold Coast.
The regions were also impacted, with Darling Downs HHS caring for 51 long-stay aged patients, and a cohort of 46, 43, 39, and 24 patients across Wide Bay, Central Queensland, Cairns and Mackay HHSs respectively.
BY THE NUMBERS
Top barriers for discharge:
Bed unavailable: 387
Dementia/BPSD related: 130
Legal process 59
Awaiting ACAT: 45
Community barrier: 39
Social delay: 35
Mental health or challenging behaviours (not BPSD): 34
Clinical needs: 13
Long-stay older patients in February (by HHS):
Metro South Health: 137
Gold Coast University Hospital: 76
Metro North Health: 75
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service: 72
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service: 71
Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service: 56
Cairns and Hinterland Health Service: 55
Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service: 49
Mackay Hospital and Health Service: 36
West Moreton Health: 31
Mater Public: 19
North West Health and Health Service: 14
Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service: 3
South West Hospital and Health Service: 2
Central West Hospital and Health Service: 1
Children’s Health Queensland: 0
LSOP waiting for residential aged care (by HHS) and statewide percentage:
Metro South Health: 105, 17.9%
Gold Coast University Hospital: 53, 9%
Metro North Health: 65, 11.1%
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service: 51, 8.7%
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service: 46, 7.8%
Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service: 47, 8%
Cairns and Hinterland Health Service: 39, 6.7%
Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service: 43, 7.3%
Mackay Hospital and Health Service: 24, 4.1%
West Moreton Health: 29, 4.9%
Mater Public: 16, 2.7%
North West Health and Health Service: 3, 0.5%
Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service: 2, 0.3%
South West Hospital and Health Service: 0, 0%
Central West Hospital and Health Service: 0, 0%
Children’s Health Queensland: 0, 0%
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