Long-stay patients crisis
The number of Queenslanders languishing in hospital longer than needed due to a lack of aged care or disability help has hit a new high, despite the state government spending $200m to combat the issue.
There are now 964 long-stay patients across the state as of the end of February, enough to fill nearly every bed at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The figures were released as part of the latest tranche of Queensland Health performance data, which also showed ambulance ramping had hit a record high – with 45 per cent of patients waiting more than 30 minutes to get into the emergency department in the first quarter of 2024.
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the demand on the health system had been “unprecedented” and pointed to Queensland’s rapidly growing and ageing population as a factor.
The number of long-stay patients – people who have been in hospital for 30 days or longer but can’t be discharged due to a lack of appropriate outside care – has jumped 53 per cent since June last year.
It has also increased since November, when Ms Fentiman announced a $200m package over two years to alleviate the issue, which included booking up spots in aged care homes to free up hospital beds.
She argued while there were more long-stay patients, they were discharged into appropriate care quicker, improving patient flow across the system. The $200m package has led to 159 long-stay patients being moved to “interim care beds” where people are cared for by Queensland Health staff but at a private facility.
“Yes, it’s the highest it’s ever been but the amount of bed days that they are staying has shortened,” Ms Fentiman said.
“We’re doing our bit with a $200m investment to move long-stay patients out. We are getting them through more quickly, but they keep coming and the federal government needs to work with us to find solutions because a lot of this is about the capacity of our aged care sector.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Ros Bates took aim at Ms Fentiman for the state recording the worst ambulance ramping figures in its history, saying she had failed to improve the metric.