A draft report seen by The Weekly SOURCE prepared by Community Industry Group, the peak body that supports Not For Profit community organisations in the NSW Illawarra Shoalhaven region, has revealed the dire state of residential aged care in the region.
"The Illawarra Shoalhaven has been publicly reported as one of Australia’s worst health district issues for more than four years and the situation is now so severe that addressing the issue is a strategic priority for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD), and is closely and continuously monitored by the NSW Ministry of Health and the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care," the report states.
In March 2024, NSW Health approved a $300,000 grant for a 12-month project to address bed blockages in the region, including funding to research why aged care services aren't meeting patient needs and delivering a volunteer program to help hospital patients transferring to aged care.
One year later, Community Industry Group made the following findings in the draft report:
- the ISLHD region has 4,356 operational residential aged care places, compared with 4,325 in 2015
- over the 10-year period, more than 500 new places have been built by Warrigal, IRT, Anglicare Sydney, Kiama Council's Blue Haven and Uniting NSW.ACT, but these were offset by a similar number of bed closures
- 297 beds are currently offline
- typically, there are between 100 and 150 patients daily in hospital ready to be discharged and formally approved for residential aged care
- more than three patients per day are approved for aged care
- the average length hospital stay for hospital patients approved for aged care is 66.2 days, 10 times longer than the average hospital patient
- patients wait on average 34 days before they are approved for aged care and on average another 32 days between being approved and being placed in aged care
- the maximum hospital stay for a patient approved for residential aged care was 410 days
- about 25% of all patients awaiting placement need dementia-specific residential aged care
- people waiting dementia-specific aged care wait on average 16 days longer than people waiting for general residential aged care
- data analysis and federal planning ratios indicate 1,025 more beds are needed in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region, with the need expected to "grow rapidly" over the next 15 years
"While some patients transition to aged care quite smoothly within a week or two of approval, many others find themselves unable to secure a placement in a suitable aged care home and remain in hospital for several months or more," the report states.
"Hospitals, while excellent in delivery of acute care, are not able to offer the activities, opportunities to socialise, or outdoor recreation activities that are part of the residential aged care experience and which support both physical and mental health.
"Functional decline is a common side effect of hospitalisation and there is further risk from exposure to infections."
The report makes 12 recommendations aimed at continuing Community Industry Group's work. Its findings were due to be presented at the second meeting of the intergovernmental Regional Bed Block Taskforce, held on 14 March 2025. A draft interim report was prepared in September 2024 for the first Taskforce meeting.
The report's authors were Nicky Sloan, Community Industry Group CEO and Warrigal board member; Mark Sewell, Community Industry Group Aged Care Advisor and former CEO of Warrigal; Paul Sadler, former CEO of Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA); and academic Professor Kathy Eagar AM.
