Bed block and aged care shortage add to emergency wait times blow out

Long wait times can be a result of “bed block” and an aged care shortage often means elderly patients get stuck in hospital, leaving no empty beds for those coming in.

The federal government has invested in urgent care clinics and mental health centres so patients can be treated out-of-hours instead of presenting to an emergency department.

"Elderly people get pushed to the hospital because there's nowhere else for them to go and they get stuck there for a prolonged period of time, and that can be months, or in some cases up to a year.

"Right now 20 per cent of acute care beds are taken up by people waiting for appropriate aged care."

The federal government has promised 35 specialist dementia care units around the country. So far 16 are operational with a further 10 to open this year.

One emergency department worker at a major Melbourne hospital, who didn't want to be named, said she'd noticed an increase in the number of National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants presenting to ED due to funding issues.