SA Government seeks solutions for aged care patients stuck in hospital
Published on 9 August 2024
South Australia’s Government is searching for a facility to house up to 25 outpatients, including aged care patients, to reduce hospital overcrowding.
Hotel rooms have been pitched as one potential solution, while the Government also announced that a rehabilitation centre will be repurposed to help patients stuck in hospital waiting for an aged care bed.
Key points
- South Australia’s Health Minister, Chris Picton, says roughly 270 people are waiting to move out of hospitals and into residential aged care
- Hotel rooms could house some patients with Queensland using a similar system where hospital patients receive nursing support in hotels while waiting for aged care
- The State Labor Government has also reversed the previous Government’s decision to sell the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre to create 70 beds through the Care of the Older Person and Community Transition (CO-ACT) service
South Australia’s ongoing health crisis has seen the State’s public hospitals operating under a ‘code yellow’ since May. A combination of COVID-19 and influenza has seen staff falling sick while beds are at capacity and emergency ramping times balloon. Many elective surgeries have been cancelled as a result.
But at the core of the issue is a growing number of older people who could be better helped in residential aged care, yet are stuck in hospital beds.
“We’ve had a doubling of the number of older people who need to be in aged care who are stuck in the hospital system over the past 18 months,” Mr Picton told ABC.
“It’s a real problem affecting states around the country is these blockages in federal aged care and it is happening very rapidly here in South Australia.
“We’ve been looking at models such as what has been in place in Queensland, where providers have been putting people up in hotels with appropriate nursing and other care to look after them while they’re stuck waiting for aged care.”
The Government wants a 25-bed facility that can accommodate a range of people, including aged care patients, pregnant mothers, ophthalmology patients, pre- and post-operation and mental health patients.
Gold Coast Health’s partnership with private health provider KNG Healthcare shows this can be a successful initiative. They run a 27-bed ward at Southport’s Mantra Hotel for lower acuity patients, providing 24/7 nursing care, doctor’s visits, meals and more. Roughly 800 public patients have accessed the service, the equivalent of 7,800 hospital bed days saved.
All patients and visitors use a separate entrance from other hotel guests, while there is no access to everyday hotel facilities like a gym or pool.
The Australian Medical Association of Queensland (AMAQ) told ABC this is more common in private healthcare, but public providers are adopting it as a reasonable solution for low-risk patients.
The South Australian Government has released a tender for a facility with Mr Picton confident about the outcomes.
“The cost of this will be a worthwhile investment in terms of freeing up beds within our hospitals, making sure they’re available for people who need them,” he said.
“It’s obviously the state taking on a burden which should be the federal government looking after but we’re having to do that because of this situation we’re now in.
“While we’re increasing capacity in our hospital system and we’re throwing the kitchen sink from the state government perspective, we just don’t see additional aged care capacity coming online.”
Similar to AMAQ, the Australian Medical Association’s SA branch said this should only be a short-term solution.
The former Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre is a longer-term option for the State with 50 beds to be available for eligible older patients and 20 for low complexity Memory Support Unit patients.
Work will be fast-tracked to upgrade the facility, including a new nursing station, modern nurse call system and better lighting. Once completed, it will provide a similar environment to residential aged care.
Mr Picton said the move creates more capacity in hospital systems, but they will need additional help from the Federal Government to improve the aged care transition process.
“This [capacity] is putting extreme strain on hospitals around the country, and we continue to call on the Federal Government to address this critical issue,” he said.
“While the State Government is set to open more than 330 more beds by the end of next year, we need the Federal Government to meet their aged care responsibilities.”