A lack of federal support has been blamed for leaving thousands of people languishing in hospital beds with nowhere else to go amid a growing public spat between NSW and the Commonwealth over service funding. or signup to continue reading A statewide shortage of NDIS placements and aged-care beds has left hundreds of patients in need of the services staying in hospitals for weeks longer than needed, according to NSW Health figures. The bed-blocking is costing an estimated $40 million each year.
There were 1158 patients in hospital waiting for an NDIS placement or an aged-care bed, the figures released on Wednesday showed. Some 762 people had stayed in hospital longer than the date they were ready for discharge, with a combined extra wait time of 36,957 days. The average patient ready for discharge spent more than 48 days in hospital when they could be housed in an aged-care facility or provided with appropriate home care.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the situation was placing enormous stress on the hospital system, which was facing record demand. "We've got over 700 patients essentially stuck in hospital beds, not able to get to aged care places or NDIS support packages," he told ABC radio. "I can't run a health and hospital system in the largest state in the country when I've got 760-odd patients waiting longer than 50 days, stuck in our beds.
" The state had been forced to absorb the estimated $40 million cost of keeping the patients in hospitals, Mr Park said. "This i.
