Long wait for aged-care bed, NDIS places clog hospitals
A lack of federal support has been blamed for leaving thousands of people languishing in hospital beds with nowhere else to go amid a growing public spat between NSW and the Commonwealth over service funding.
A statewide shortage of NDIS placements and aged-care beds has left hundreds of patients in need of the services staying in hospitals for weeks longer than needed, according to NSW Health figures.
The bed-blocking is costing an estimated $40 million each year.
There were 1158 patients in hospital waiting for an NDIS placement or an aged-care bed, the figures released on Wednesday showed.
Some 762 people had stayed in hospital longer than the date they were ready for discharge, with a combined extra wait time of 36,957 days.
The average patient ready for discharge spent more than 48 days in hospital when they could be housed in an aged-care facility or provided with appropriate home care.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the situation was placing enormous stress on the hospital system, which was facing record demand.
"We've got over 700 patients essentially stuck in hospital beds, not able to get to aged care places or NDIS support packages," he told ABC radio.
"I can't run a health and hospital system in the largest state in the country when I've got 760-odd patients waiting longer than 50 days, stuck in our beds."
The state had been forced to absorb the estimated $40 million cost of keeping the patients in hospitals, Mr Park said.
"This is something that I've been raising consistently now for some time over the last 12 months, at every opportunity - with my colleagues, other health ministers and the federal health minister," he said.
The complaint adds to a growing list of funding gripes between the NSW Labor government and its party colleagues in the federal parliament.
Criticism has been levelled over a lack of Medicare funding for GPs, which has been blamed for putting more pressure on hospitals, as well as over the state's share of GST revenue.
In a letter earlier in June, state and territory health ministers demanded more money from the federal government.
NSW receives about 38 per cent of hospital funding from the Commonwealth and an agreement has been struck to increase the share to 45 per cent over 10 years.
An attempt to overhaul the NDIS to rein in snowballing costs is under way, but laws to enact the changes are stalled in parliament.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler accused the states of being "stuck in trench warfare playing the blame game on hospital funding".
He pointed towards a December 2023 National Cabinet meeting where the Commonwealth agreed to commit to $13 billion of additional hospital funding for the states.
Mr Butler said it was crucial the NDIS and disability reforms progressed in tandem with negotiations on hospital funding to allow for both agreements to be settled.
"When this is progressed, negotiations for a new Health Agreement can be finalised," he told AAP.
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has been contacted for comment.
