NDIS patient stuck in hospital for five years while waiting for help

Some patients awaiting NDIS assistance or an aged care place have essentially become prisoners in the health system, with some being forced to stay in hospital years after their discharge dates.

A patient has been stuck in hospital for more than five years despite being medically cleared for discharge three years ago – one of the victims in a national debacle costing NSW taxpayers more than $40m.

The patient, who cannot be named for privacy reasons, is the most extreme case among hundreds of NSW residents who have become prisoners in the health system because they cannot access federal government disability or aged-care ser­vices needed to live independently.

The Hunter New England Local Health District patient has been in hospital for 1862 days while waiting for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) services. These can include home modifications, improved living arrangements, transport and assistance with daily life.

A damning internal NSW Health report into the crisis has identified the person as the “longest-stay NDIS” patient in a NSW hospital, having remained 1068 days “beyond the estimated date of discharge”.

The patient was one of 557 NDIS patients in a NSW hospital as at August 3, with more than half having stayed past their discharge dates. The extra unnecessary days being spent in hospital by the NDIS patients was costing taxpayers a staggering $32.8m.

Patients awaiting NDIS assistance or aged care are staying well past their discharge date. Picture: iStock

However, it is not just NDIS patients taking up beds – more than 60 per cent of 519 elderly patients had also stayed past their discharge date because they were unable to secure a residential aged-care facility place, the report said.

The longest-staying residential aged care patient was also in a Hunter New England hospital and as of last month had clocked up 1237 days – more than three years. The report said the patient was ready to have been discharged 888 days ago, the equivalent of more than two years.

NSW Health estimated the cost of the overstaying residential aged patients amounted to more than $12.7m.

In the Sydney Local Health District, the longest NDIS patient in a hospital has clocked up 701 days – 660 days past the estimated discharge date.

The city’s longest-staying residential aged-care facility patient was in a Western Sydney hospital and had stayed 520 days beyond the discharge date. In the case of elderly patients, NSW Health was critical of the federal government for failing to meet its targets in aged-care places, with 17 facilities closing last financial year, equating to the loss of about 700 beds.

“There are 73 residential aged-care facility places per 1000 people aged 60 and over,” the NSW Health report said.

“This number has reduced from a high of 85 places per target population in 2012, and it means the Australian government is not meeting their current target of 78 places per target population.”

Nationally, NDIS patients are taking up more than a thousand sick beds at a cost to the taxpayer of up to $1bn a year, prompting NDIS Minister Bill Shorten to this week challenge his agency to respond to those patients within four days once they were ready for discharge.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard praised the Albanese government, saying he was “heartened and very positive” about the moves to address what had been a “big problem” for patients and the NSW Health system.

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