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 Home News General
Waiting Time for Aged Care Beds Grows01 June 2004Elderly people are being forced to wait up to eight months to get into an aged care facility due to a shortage of beds. A survey of nursing homes and hostels in NSW and the ACT found that at the end of last year more than 20,000 people were waiting for a place. The average waiting time for a nursing home was 24 weeks (up from 19 weeks in 2001). For a low care bed it was even longer at 36 weeks (up from 32 weeks in 2001). People who were waiting for support in their own home via a Community Aged Care Package (CACP) were on average waiting 18 weeks (up from 13 weeks in 2001). The results are based on a survey of members conducted by the peak employer group, Aged and Community Services Association of NSW and ACT. The HSU's national secretary Craig Thomson said that the survey results showed the huge unmet demand for nursing home accommodation. "To have more than 20,000 people in NSW alone waiting for a bed is just unacceptable," he said. "Thousands of people whose families cannot find a bed end up having to stay too long in hospitals and that is not good for them and it means less room for acutely ill people. "It is often a traumatic time for elderly people as it is without having to spend months searching the state for a bed." Mr Thomson urged the federal government to work with new and existing nursing home operators to bring on extra beds as soon as possible. "In NSW alone there were over 7,000 beds promised but not operational at the end of the last financial year." |
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© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU) |
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