Australia’s public hospital system is not keeping pace with the requirements of an ageing population.
Over the last 30 years, the number of public hospital beds available for people aged over 65 has dropped by more than half — from 32.5 beds per 1,000 people to only 14.7.
Older hospital patients are also waiting weeks to find a suitable place in aged care. In 2020–21, 19,631 public hospital patients left to go into residential aged care or an appropriate home care service. Of these patients, around one in 10 waited more than 35 days.
These alarming statistics are contained in the AMA’s Public Hospital Report Card, which looks at problems in the health system, and possible solutions. This year’s report shows Australia’s hospital performance is, according to Federal AMA President Professor Stephen Robson, “at its lowest ever”.
The decline in the number of beds for older Australians comes as our population is ageing: in a decade Australia is forecast to have more than one million people over the age of 85.
“We know that older patients are more likely to require an admission to a public hospital, and we should be planning for this. Instead, we are deliberately setting our public hospitals, and with them our patients, on the path to failure,” Professor Robson said.
You can read the report in full HERE.
