Ambulance ramping in South Australia has hit "crisis levels", as the number of patients in Queensland hospitals surpassed 1,000 for the first time, both due to a lack of available residential aged care beds and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) places available.
General Secretary
Leah Watkins
A spokesperson for South Australia's Ambulance Employees Association, General Secretary Leah Watkins, told the ABC ambulance ramping was at "crisis levels" as emergency departments were full last week. In one situation, an 83-year-old woman was ramped for more than 12 hours outside the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
South Australia Health Minister Chris Picton said more Federal Government assistance as the country is in a national crisis with people who should be in aged care stuck in hospital beds.
"On any daily basis, we've got about 200 patients who are stuck in hospital waiting for aged care or NDIS, and that means there are 200 beds taken up by somebody else in the system," the Minister told the ABC.
Chris Picton
In May, the SA and Federal Governments committed $56 million to ease pressure on South Australia's health system, including "geriatric flying squads" to help older hospital patients transition to residential aged care.
Shannon Fentiman
Queensland Health data showed there were 1,013 long-stay patients in the state’s public health system, which is enough to fill every bed at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
“We have over 1,000 patients essentially stuck in hospital beds, unable to access aged care places or NDIS support packages and that’s simply not good enough,” said Queensland's Health Minister Shannon Fentiman.
“Addressing the shortfalls in NDIS and aged-care placements is crucial to alleviating the pressures on hospitals and we need the federal government to come to the table and work with us on solutions that can be implemented quickly.”
Queensland Government has been securing aged beds in the private sector, with 243 beds made available as of May 2024.
