David Crisafulli demands national solution to aged care crisis trapping patients in hospitals
Benina Klimenty has spent three months in a ward at a major Brisbane hospital when she should be in aged care. But the reality of moving to a facility comes at a heartbreaking cost.
Queensland has become “ground zero” for the hospital exit-block crisis that the medical peak body first warned about almost three years ago, with Premier David Crisafulli pleading for the federal government to come up with a solution.
The Australian Medical Association warned governments in February 2023 that as of 2020-21 a whopping 286,050 patient days across the country were linked to people waiting for a residential aged-care bed.
Mr Crisafulli on Sunday lamented the crisis had been allowed to snowball.
He and his counterparts in other states and territories are now demanding a rescue plan for medically fit “stranded Australians” languishing in hospital beds because there aren’t enough aged-care spots.
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The AMA first warned governments the issue was costing the health system up to $848m, prompting calls for the federal government to increase its share of hospital funding to 50 per cent.
Their 2025 report shows that the aged-care-related exit block has worsened, with just 14.3 public hospital beds available per 1000 people over 65 – a record low, and less than half the capacity available in the early 1990s.
Across the country, just 578 aged-care beds were added to the system in the last financial year.
Meanwhile, as revealed on Sunday, more than 3000 patients are waiting in the state’s hospitals for placements – at a cost of $2.3bn annually.
Mr Crisafulli said Queensland was “ground zero” for the crisis, but he and his interstate counterparts were putting their political differences aside to fight together.
“(These Australians) are stranded in hospitals where they should be given the dignity of care in dedicated facilities,” he said.
“This is a national push for a national problem, and it needs a national solution, and that’s why states cross the political divide driving the change that is needed.”
Asked if something should have been done when the AMA foreshadowed the issue in 2023 Mr Crisafulli said: “Yes, things should have happened before.”
AMAQ president Dr Nick Yim said it was incredibly frustrating to see years of underinvestment in healthcare as our ageing population increased.
“The warning signs were there,” he said.
“We need federal and state government co-operation to catch up for where we’ve missed in previous years.”
Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the federal government was failing.
A spokeswoman for the federal government said: “The government doesn’t want Australians to spend longer in hospital when they can be receiving care back at home or in aged-care.
“Negotiations have recommenced to finalise the December 2023 national cabinet deal on hospital funding and NDIS reforms.
“The commonwealth is prepared to negotiate in good faith and looks forward to discussing the offer with states.
“We want to see it finalised by the end of the year.”
Federal Opposition health and aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston said: “This is a national crisis of Labor’s own making.
“It delivered only around 5 per cent of the required new aged-care beds last financial year and has left 238,000 older Australians waiting for home care support.”
One of the people caught in the crisis is 94-year-old Benina Klimenty, who should be recovering in peace after her hip surgery.
Instead, Ms Klimenty has spent three months in a geriatric ward at The Prince Charles Hospital, waiting for an interim care bed.
Her husband Ray makes the long trip from Strathpine every day, arriving just before lunch and staying until after dinner – holding her hand, feeding her meals and bracing himself for the moment he must leave.
“That’s the hard decision,” he said.
“You walk out of the ward and you stop, and you can hear her saying ‘I really don’t want you to go,’ and she’s grabbing hold of you. That’s really hard.”
Ms Klimenty has been approved for a bed at St Martin’s in Taigum, the interim care facility linked to the hospital.
But the waitlist is so long that she has remained in hospital for months, blocking a much-needed acute bed, while the system searches for anywhere suitable.
If she were placed closer to home, Mr Klimenty said he could visit twice a day.
Mr Klimenty said the government had known for years that demand for aged-care beds was exploding.
“My Aged Care got in touch and they said you need to get your papers in order and get yourself organised with finding a place for Benina because it’s a long list,” he said.
“They said if you don’t get everything signed now, you could be waiting 10, 12, 15, even 18 months to get in somewhere,” Mr Klimenty said.
“The most horrible thing is someone has to pass for someone else to get in.
“It’s now a wait and see situation,” he said.
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