Today’s National Cabinet agreement on hospital funding is a long-overdue and welcome step to finally provide some certainty for Australia’s public hospitals, but it will do little to help the thousands of older Australians who remain trapped in hospital because they cannot access aged care.
Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston welcomed the certainty secured by National Cabinet but said that this should not distract from the fact that these negotiations have been a mess of Anthony Albanese’s own making for more than two years.
“The Prime Minister failed to negotiate in good faith with the States and Territories and failed to take responsibility for the impact of his own aged care crisis on hospitals across the country,” Senator Ruston said.
“He has not only gone about this the wrong way, but he has wasted two years while hospitals, patients and health workers paid the price from the unacceptable uncertainty this created.
“To make matters worse, young Australians living with a disability and their families remain in ongoing uncertainty due to the complete lack of clarity and detail around the new Thriving Kids program.”
Senator Ruston said that the Albanese Government must now urgently turn its attention to its worsening aged care crisis which was impacting hospitals across the country.
The Productivity Commission revealed wait times for older Australians to access support in their own homes has blown out over the past year to more than 8 months, more than double the wait time just a year ago.
“Thousands of older Australians are stuck in hospital beds when they should be receiving appropriate care at home. This means they're not getting the support they need, and it means other Australians who desperately need hospital admission are missing out,” Senator Ruston said.
“As NSW Premier Chris Minns rightly pointed out today, we have an aging population – this problem is only going to get worse unless the Prime Minister takes responsibility and fixes the aged care crisis he has created.
“Labor promised to put the care back in aged care, but all they’ve managed to do is put the wait in waiting list.
“Anthony Albanese said today that his focus is on patients and not politics, but this is a prime minister who is providing only 60% of the funding older Australians have been assessed as needing because he has run out of money for aged care.
“Now that hospital funding certainty has finally been secured, the Prime Minister has no excuse left. It is time for him to take responsibility and fix the aged care crisis he has created.”
ENDS
@Anne_Ruston
/AnneRuston