The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM; the College) said that a key positive in this year’s Budget was the continuation of funding for its Emergency Medicine Education and Training (EMET) program for a further 12 months.
The initiative, which is funded through the Specialist Training Program (STP), delivers essential education, training and clinical supervision to doctors and healthcare teams across hundreds of regional, rural and remote hospitals, helping to ensure that patients receive safe, high-quality emergency care closer to home.
While the one-year EMET funding extension has been welcomed, ACEM is calling for ongoing, long-term funding certainty for the program to ensure stability in workforce development and continued improvements in rural emergency care.
“The EMET program provides much-needed support to better equip doctors and other healthcare providers outside major cities across Australia to deal with critically ill or complex trauma patients so that people can get the care they need when and where they need it,” ACEM President Dr Peter Allely said.
“However, despite its proven success and enormous benefit to regional, rural and remote communities, funding for EMET beyond 2027 still remains uncertain.”
Positively, ACEM also notes the continued STP funding will give certainty to a range of FACEM training positions, including in Specialist Training Program and Support, Integrated Rural Training Pipeline and the Tasmanian Project.
Emergency physicians have also welcomed significant Budget investment in aged care capacity, including expanded support for older Australians transitioning between hospital and community settings, as well as additional Specialist Dementia Care Program units.
Dr Allely said the measures represent an important step forward but must be part of a broader, sustained reform agenda.
“From the emergency department floor, we can see very clearly that pressure from aged care is flowing straight into hospitals and EDs,” Dr Allely said.
“Australia’s population is ageing and we are seeing more people needing complex and specialist care. Without the right support, people can deteriorate, require hospital care, and often can’t be discharged safely.”
“We need an aged care system that is built for complexity, not just scale.”
Dr Allely said the Government’s investment in aged care capacity and dementia-specific care will help improve patient flow and reduce avoidable pressure on EDs.
“At its core, this is about dignity. Older Australians deserve access to care that is safe, appropriate and capable of meeting increasingly complex needs.
“ACEM has been a leading voice in highlighting the growing pressure on EDs when older patients are left stranded in hospital wards due to a lack of appropriate discharge options.
“This is a systemic failure that reduces capacity for new patients and leads to overcrowded EDs, ambulance delays and longer waits. New health department figures show almost 3300 long-stay older patients currently stranded in hospitals across the country. With the fastest-growing age cohort in Australia being 85+, this issue must be addressed now.
“This new Budget funding will provide older people with frailty or complex needs more options to be discharged from hospital and enter residential care or access additional support to return home. Getting this right will reduce avoidable admissions, support timely discharge and take pressure off emergency departments.”
Alongside aged care reforms, ACEM has also acknowledged continued investment in hospital funding under the National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA), which aims to support system capacity and improve access to care across the public hospital system.
However, the College emphasised that funding arrangements must keep pace with rising demand in emergency care services, particularly as presentations continue to grow in both volume and complexity.
ACEM also welcomed additional investment through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), noting the importance of ensuring emergency medicine research is appropriately supported within national research priorities.
The College is calling for stronger recognition of emergency care research, including evidence-based approaches to patient flow, workforce models and rural service delivery.
“Research is critical to improving outcomes in emergency medicine,” Dr Allely said.
“Emergency departments are the front door of the health system, and we need stronger investment in research that reflects the realities of that environment, including overcrowding, bed block, workforce pressures and the growing complexity of patient presentations.
“Targeted emergency medicine streams through the MRFF will help us design better systems, improve patient safety and ensure care is delivered more efficiently and equitably.”
Dr Allely reiterated that while the Budget contains several positive measures, including EMET funding, aged care investment and health system support, sustained reform is needed to address structural pressures facing emergency care.
“While these measures will reduce pressure at the edges, nobody on the frontline would say the job is done,” Dr Allely said.
“We’re optimistic this is the first of many steps in the right direction.”
/ends
Background:
ACEM is the peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, responsible for training emergency physicians and advancement of professional standards. www.acem.org.au
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