Aged-care backlog a major strain on hospital services: shadow health minister Libby Mettam

Shadow health minister and Vasse MLA Libby Mettam says a recent Auditor-General report into the lax state of WA Health’s monitoring shows a backlog of elderly residents housed in South West hospitals is a bigger issue than conceded. First reported by the Times in October last year, respected Dunsborough GP Andrew Lill revealed scores of seniors with nowhere else to go were being housed in hospitals across the South West, including Bunbury, Donnybrook, Busselton, Augusta and Margaret River. WA Auditor General Caroline Spencer’s report last month into the Management of Long Stay Patients blamed bed blockage and wait time blowouts on a failure to move medically ready patients out of facilities because they lack outside support. Ms Spencer also criticised WA Health’s data collection on long-term patients as substandard, accusing the health provider of not having a grasp on the depth of the issue. “The Department of Health as system manager does not know in real-time how many patients across WA health remain in hospital when they are medically fit for discharge,” she said. Ms Mettam said the Auditor-General’s findings showed seniors without aged-care places were not only a big contributor to the report, but poor record-keeping meant WA Health was unable to give precise numbers for such patients. As a geriatric care specialist, Dr Lill warned medical rules for patients in hospitals rather than aged-care meant security guards, restraints and sedation were more commonplace options. The WA Country Health Service did not provide the Times a breakdown of current numbers of seniors housed in South West hospitals. South West regional director Kerry Winsor told the Times “hospitals across WA sometimes provide care to older patients while they await placement at an appropriate aged-care facility”. “We do this in the event it is not safe for the person to return home and our staff work hard to balance this against day-to-day patent flow and bed availability,” she said. The report said regionally between July last year to March, an average of 161 patients awaited an aged care spot and collectively spent 7976 days longer than necessary in a WA Country Health hospital. A spokeswoman for Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the State Government had invested $5.8 million to support the Long Stay Patient Fund and $59.5 million in the 2022-23 State Budget for 120 permanent aged-care places to help transition older patients out of hospital. “The challenges associated with long-stay patients are being experienced Australia-wide; however Western Australia is leading the way in delivering innovative solutions to get patients into more appropriate care sooner,” she said. “As part of our ongoing commitment to helping long-stay patients to exit hospital, WA Health will use the Auditor-General’s findings to improve processes to benefit of patients and the health system.” Federal NDIS Minister Bill Shorten discussed long-term patient issues during a Perth visit last month, as aged care and the NDIS are Federal Government responsibilities.