Hundreds of medically fit patients are stuck in Victorian hospitals. It’s costing taxpayers millions
More than 450 Victorian hospital beds are blocked by patients fit for discharge, as critical shortages in aged care homes and NDIS-funded housing cost state taxpayers millions.
More than 450 public hospital beds across Victoria are currently occupied by patients who are medically fit for discharge, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually.
Hundreds of long stay patients, including aged care and NDIS patients, who could be discharged are stranded in state-run hospitals due to a critical shortage of beds in appropriate homes.
And new figures obtained by the Herald Sun show the number of aged care patients stuck in public hospitals is growing.
As of last month, 246 older Victorians were clinically ready for discharge to a residential aged care facility – an increase of one third compared to the previous year.
Additionally, 226 NDIS participants, also medically cleared for discharge, were awaiting transfer to homes or community care arrangements.
A Department of Health spokesperson said they were aware that many Victorians were staying in public hospitals too long.
“The Department of Health is aware that many people with a disability and older Victorians are staying in hospital longer than they need to,” she said.
“We are working closely with the NDIA, the Commonwealth Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and with Victorian health services to address discharge issues that both older people and NDIS participants may experience in hospital.”
It comes as a national campaign, spearheaded by Queensland Liberal Premier David Crisafulli, aims to force the Albanese government to cough up more funding to get more aged care beds online.
Mr Crisafulli has accused Canberra of abandoning the 42.5 per cent shared hospital-funding agreement reached in 2023, after the Commonwealth offered a contribution closer to 35 per cent.
The federal government says it is increasing funding by 12 per cent next year and insists aged-care and NDIS reform will proceed alongside hospital negotiations.
A federal government spokeswoman said the Commonwealth did not want Australians spending longer in hospital than necessary and was negotiating in “good faith” to finalise the 2023 hospital funding agreement.
“We’ll continue to target critical shortages and bridge capital gaps, but government grants alone were never intended to solve the problems we face and can’t deliver at the scale required,” she said.
Nationally, 3,621 long-stay patients are currently stranded in state-run hospitals while waiting for aged-care beds or NDIS-supported accommodation, a crisis now draining more than $2.3bn a year from state health budgets.
National aged-care occupancy is now at 94.4 per cent, with full capacity expected to be reached within three years, and an 18,000-bed annual shortfall forecast by 2030.
Analysis released by Boxwell and Co this week shows Australia added just 578 aged-care beds last year — barely 5 per cent of the 10,600 needed annually.
An Allan government spokesperson said they were continuing to advocate for the 2030 target but that Victoria – which has the largest public sector residential aged care system in Australia – was in a better position than other states.
“While delayed discharge of older people is a growing challenge nationally, Victoria has fewer delayed discharge days for aged-care eligible patients than other jurisdictions,” she said.
Across Australia, Queensland is carrying the heaviest load, with 1,126 patients stranded in its hospitals at a cost of $912m a year, followed closely by NSW with 1,166 patients costing around $438m annually.
The Herald Sun requested a further breakdown from the Victorian Department of Health detailing the cost of the bed-block crisis but were told data was not available.
In 2022, when almost 300 public hospital beds in Victoria were occupied by patients who were medically fit to leave, then NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said those patients were waiting an average of 160 days to leave hospital, at a cost of at least $2300 a day.
Opposition health spokesperson said Georgie Crozier said the Allan government has known about these problems for years.
“Victoria has failed to address it,” she said.
“The Premier needs to be advocating harder to Canberra to do what is right for these patients.”
Originally published as Hundreds of medically fit patients are stuck in Victorian hospitals. It’s costing taxpayers millions
