New hospital funding will free up beds
No-one wants to stay in hospital longer than they have to. New funding to help patients move back home or into community care will ease bed block in our hospitals and let patients move from emergency departments into hospital beds.
New funding to help patients out of hospital and into aged or disability care will free up beds and ease pressure on stretched emergency departments.
“We commend Health Minister Shannon Fentiman for this additional $200 million to support patients to move back home with extra assistance, to move into aged or disability care, or to move to a regional hospital closer to home,” AMA Queensland President Dr Maria Boulton said.
“Too many patients are stuck in hospitals because they need more care than they can get at home but there is no place for them to go to.
“This causes bed block, meaning patients in emergency departments are waiting longer to be admitted to hospital, putting more pressure on our EDs.
“AMA Queensland called for this action as one of the recommendations of our Ramping Roundtable.
“We are pleased to see this recommendation being taken up, along with 2,500 more hospital beds across the state and extended hospital operating hours to allow patients to be discharged at night and on weekends.
“This funding will help boost critical staff numbers in aged care and NDIS places and is a very welcome move to make lives better for some of our most vulnerable patients.”
The AMA Ramping Roundtable Action Plan is available here.
