The discharge time for elderly hospital patients waiting for a bed in aged care has halved in the Illawarra since earlier this year, but there are still 80 people stuck in hospital, according to Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes.
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And the region's health boss says this is an issue that will make or break the local hospital system in 2023.
In August, there were 143 people - or more than five full wards - in Illawarra hospitals waiting for a bed in an aged care or disability facility.
The severe shortage of aged care beds across the region - with more than 200 beds closed since 2020 and dozens more in existing aged care facilities sitting empty - has wreaked havoc on the emergency department.
Because patients can't leave, ward beds become clogged and others needing to be admitted to hospital from the ED face record wait times.
Recently, Wollongong hospital recorded a record-breaking median wait time of 11 hours and 35 minutes for those needing to be admitted.
At her end of year public meeting about the state of the health system, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District chief Margot Mains told the Mercury aged care - along with the GPs shortage - needed to be urgently addressed.
"We need to be able to ensure that aged care can get the staff they need so they can reopen beds, secondly we need to make sure we can get dementia specific services, as we have lost 103 beds in this area of dementia," she said.
"We have got 31 people waiting today to get into dementia beds sitting in hospital. And we're working with the commonwealth and the state to define a new level of care and re-involving ourselves in aged care [at Bulli Hospital]."
Ms Mains said she was seeking an urgent commitment from the federal government to help reopen some of the 250 beds that have been lost.
"We need to get on with it with some urgency," she said.
Ms Byrnes described the region's aged care crisis as "a perfect storm of problems that cannot be solved easily or overnight".
"There is no denying that the pressures on our aged care system are putting pressure on an already stretched public health system" she said.
"Over the last few years we have lost more than 200 aged care beds in Wollongong.
"We also face a global nursing staff shortage and a tight labour market which means that staff working in aged care are being attracted to industries with higher wages."
However, she said the Albanese Government had been taking action at a national level.
"Since our election earlier this year we have delivered on our aged care commitments to rebuild the sector, which includes a commitment to fully fund 215 care minutes and a nurse on site 24/7 at aged care facilities," Ms Byrnes said.
"[Aged Care] Minister Wells and [Immigration] Minister Giles are also working together to ensure aged care specific Labour Agreements are processed as a priority to help address staffing shortages."
There have also been specific measures to target the Illawarra's acute problems, she said.
At a local level, since August the Government has been convening regular meetings with the local health district, local aged care providers and other stakeholders to identify the causes of the high number of patients awaiting discharge to residential aged care and working on solutions to reduce the delays," Ms Byrnes said.
"This has already halved discharge times and reduced the waiting list to 80 people in October.
"There is more to do and that is why I speak regularly with ISLHD CEO Margot Mains about options.
"Locally we are on a unity ticket to develop additional solutions that will reduce pressure on our hospitals while delivering the care that older Illawarra residents need, when they need it and in a form that meets their care needs."
The federal Department of Health and Aged Care said it was continuing to bring together all stakeholders to improve supports for people diagnosed with dementia in this region.
"Stakeholders are continuing to work together on models to increase the support for dementia patients, their families and the residential aged care homes," the department said.
"The Government is funding a new Specialist Dementia Care Program Unit in the Wollongong area in 2023, with an anticipated eight additional beds."
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
