Hospital EDs are a critical part of our healthcare system, designed to assess, stabilise and treat people in the emergency phase of their care before they are admitted to hospital or discharged from care. However, EDs are increasingly experiencing ‘bed block’, which is when ED patients cannot be admitted due to a lack of available hospital beds, meaning the ED does not have capacity to accept new patients arriving in ambulances.
ED bed block is exacerbated by more and more older patients staying in hospital longer than they need to, not because they still need acute care, but because the right support is not available outside hospital.
As highlighted in a recent ACEM report, ED patient numbers will almost double by 2050, while patients aged 85 years or more, with more complex health needs, will almost quadruple. At the same time, ED hospital bed capacity is in fact declining, with the number of beds available for every 1000 Australians aged over 65 in 2025 at the record low number of 14.3, less than half of the capacity in the early 1990s.
“Australia’s population is getting older. Our health needs are getting more complex. And we’re seeing thousands of older Australians stuck in hospital because there aren’t enough aged-care services to safely care for them. The flow-on effect is putting enormous pressure on emergency departments,” ACEM President Dr Peter Allely said.
“Emergency physicians hope a new national hospital funding agreement can be negotiated to protect patient safety, support healthcare workers, and relieve pressure on emergency departments.”