The Albanese Labor Government has officially walked away from its commitment to lift the Commonwealth contribution for hospital funding at the same time as it has abandoned older Australians who are stuck in hospital waiting for aged care support.
In a press release on 3 December 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised he would increase the Commonwealth’s “National Health Reform Agreement contributions to 45 per cent over a maximum of a 10-year path from 1 July 2025 with an achievement of at least 42.5 per cent before 2030.” He also confirmed the commitment at a press conference that same day.
But under questioning in Senate Estimates, the Secretary of the Health Department Blair Comley backtracked and rewrote history, stating: “We can repeat this as many times as you want, but the Prime Minister did not categorically say it would reach 42.5 per cent.” According to the Secretary, the Prime Minister did not promise to lift hospital funding and his commitment was “subject to caps”.
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Anne Ruston said that the Prime Minister’s broken promise on lifting hospital funding would only add to the pressures and uncertainty facing our hospitals.
“Right now, hospitals across the country are overwhelmed. State and Territory leaders are pleading for help because thousands of beds are being occupied by older Australians who should be receiving aged care support in their own home or in residential care,” Senator Ruston said.
This shocking revelation comes at a time when every state and territory leader has called out the Prime Minister for the impact of his aged care crisis on hospitals – an escalating issue that the Department has admitted it is not even tracking.
Senator Ruston said the admission that the Department does not track or collect the data on the number of medically-fit older Australians stranded in public hospitals exposes a fundamental failure in the Government’s ability to understand, let alone manage, the growing crisis across our aged care and hospital systems.
“To learn that the Albanese Government isn’t even monitoring how many older Australians are stranded in hospital is extraordinary,” Senator Ruston said.
“It is no wonder the States and Territories have lost faith in the Government. You can’t fix what you won’t measure.”
These revelations follow new data that shows the extent of the Albanese Government’s aged care crisis, with more than 220,000 older Australians currently waiting for aged care – either on the home care wait list or awaiting an assessment – while industry experts have projected a net loss in available residential aged care beds despite rising demand.
Senator Ruston said that hospitals are being left to carry the load of a system in deep trouble.
“State leaders are rightly fed up. They cannot manage hospital pressures when the Commonwealth won’t even do the basic parts of its job managing the need in aged care.
“We are calling on the Minister to immediately direct the Department to begin tracking the number of older Australians who are stuck in hospital because they cannot access aged care and publish those numbers transparently.”
ENDS
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