The Commission’s report, Helping older patients stranded in NSW public hospitals, was released one day after ACEM launched its State of Emergency 2026: Australia’s Ageing Population report at Parliament House in Canberra.
ACEM President Dr Peter Allely said the two reports tell the same story.
“What we’re seeing in emergency departments is the result of years of underinvestment in aged care, hospital capacity, primary care and prevention,” Dr Allely said.
“When an older person’s hospital treatment is complete but the aged care they need isn’t there, the system keeps them in a hospital bed. That flows straight back to the emergency department, where more patients are left waiting for a bed, often for many hours and sometimes for days.
“Our report found that in 2023–24 53,510 older Australians spent more than 24 hours in an ED waiting for a bed. The Commission’s work helps explain why.”
Dr Allely said Australians living longer is something to celebrate, and the health and aged care systems need to keep pace.
“We all need to know that as we age, we’ll be treated with respect and dignity and have access to high quality and timely care. Right now, too many older people are spending their days in hospital wards and ED corridors waiting for care that should be available elsewhere.”
The Commission’s report found that a lack of aged care capacity is costing NSW the equivalent of one in ten ED-accessible inpatient beds, and that pressure is growing fast. The number of older people waiting in hospital for aged care has nearly tripled since 2023, while NSW is on track to add only around 660 of the 2,600 new residential aged care beds it needs each year.
At that rate, the aged care bed gap will only widen. Under the report’s high growth scenario, more than 7000 older people could be waiting in NSW hospitals for aged care by 2036, up from around 1100 today. That would be the equivalent of around 70 per cent of the state’s current ED-accessible inpatient beds.
None of this was unforeseen. The Commission noted governments have been warned about the effects of population ageing on aged care demand in every Intergenerational Report since 2002.
ACEM NSW Branch Chair Dr Rachael Gill said the Commission’s findings would be familiar to anyone working in a NSW emergency department.
“Every shift, we’re caring for older patients who have been admitted but can’t get to an inpatient bed, because there’s nowhere for people further along in their care to go,” Dr Gill said. “These are often frail people with dementia or delirium, and an ED is one of the worst places for them to be. Every patient deserves care in the right place, and right now the system isn’t delivering that.”
Both reports highlight a number of Commonwealth and state-led solutions. Most prominently, ACEM and the Commission are calling on the Federal Government to deliver more residential aged care, including for people living with dementia and complex needs, and to make sure older people can get Support at Home when they need it. More than 100,000 Australians were waiting for Support at Home services in March 2026, many for around 12 months. Both reports also support states expanding services that help older people avoid hospital or get home sooner, such as hospital teams that care for people in aged care homes, care at home, and better discharge planning.
“No single government can solve this on its own,” Dr Allely said. “We look forward to working with Federal, State and Territory governments to build a system where aged care capacity matches need and every patient gets the right care in the right place.”
Download State of Emergency: Australia’s Ageing Population here.
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