00:02Aged care bed block is pushing Australia's public hospitals to breaking point.
00:07It's a problem that's going north and going north fast.
00:10The situation is dire. It has flow-on effects all the way through health systems.
00:16Elective surgery, wait times, ramping hours, staffing, everything.
00:22State and territory ministers have met in Sydney to ask for urgent funding to move more patients into aged care.
00:28The longer we delay, the worse the problem gets, the less care that's available and the further we'll have to
00:34go to catch up.
00:35Their pleas went unanswered.
00:37Health Minister meetings are not about budget announcements.
00:40The number of elderly patients waiting to be discharged into aged care rose from 2,400 in 2025 to more
00:48than 3,700 now.
00:50It represents a jump of more than 50% across the country in just one year.
00:56The Federal Government is also pushing ahead with its plan to wind back the private health rebate for those over
01:0265,
01:03saying the $3 billion in savings will go straight into aged care.
01:08Every dollar that we raise or save through that change is going to be ploughed into aged care.
01:13More beds, more packages, better care.
01:16But there are fears it'll worsen the strain on hospitals.
01:19If there are going to be additional costs put on state and territories because of this policy change,
01:25then we would expect to have a discussion with the Commonwealth about financially footing the bill around that.
01:29With the number of older Australians set to double, the issue is becoming a demographic time bomb.
01:35So with this point, yes, it's not being a person.
01:36In the end, we will see the next question.
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