On any given day in the past year, nearly 100 of the Illawarra's hospital beds have been filled with people who didn't need to be there, but were stuck waiting for a place in aged care.
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To fix this, as the region continues to suffer from a severe shortage of aged care beds, the state and federal governments have announced a joint plan to fund dozens of new temporary aged care places in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said this would provide much-needed relief to the local hospital system, where the aged care shortage has wreaked havoc on emergency departments.
Because the elderly patients can't leave, ward beds get clogged and other people needing to be admitted to hospital from the ED have faced record wait times, while ambulances get stuck in bed block for hours.
Mr Park said the extra funding, which will extend the Commonwealth's Transitional Aged Care Program by 35 places, will allow elderly Illawarra patients to be discharged from hospital to another care facility while they wait for a residential placement to become available.
"This is an exceptional result for the local community and is especially welcome news for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, which has been facing unprecedented challenges with the flow of patients through local hospitals because of the impact of residential aged care bed shortages," he said.
"Under the agreement, the NSW Government will contribute around 75 per cent of the funding required to open 20 additional transition beds in Illawarra, which will equate to around $5 million annually.
"We will also jointly fund an additional 15 transitional beds in the Shoalhaven, with four already in place in Nowra."
He said the health district was currently negotiating with Figtree Private Hospital to enable the opening of a 20-bed ward within its facility, with staff recruitment already underway.
According to government figures, an average of 92 local patients every day over the past 12 months have been stuck in hospital waiting to transfer to a residential aged care facility.
This is significantly higher than other health districts, and more than double the average number of elderly patients who have remained stuck in hospital in previous years according to Mr Park.
Last August, there were 143 people - or more than five full wards - of people waiting for a bed in an aged care or disability facility, and as recently as June there were 113 of these patients in Wollongong.
"This no doubt creates a level of uncertainty for patients and their loved ones because they are forced to wait in hospital," Mr Park said.
"It also impacts access to beds for other patients needing admission to our public hospitals."
"This relief package will enable more elderly patients, who are well enough for discharge, to be cared for in a more appropriate facility while at the same time making more hospital beds available.
"This will significantly improve access to hospital beds from emergency departments."
Cunningham MP Alison Byrnes had been working for months to help improve access to aged care, and said the collaborative agreement with Federal Aged Care Minister Annika Wells would help public hospitals transition elderly patients into more appropriate care.
"Both Minister Wells and I see it as a priority to work cooperatively with government and the sector to achieve effective 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," Ms Byrnes said.
She said the Federal Government was committed to improving aged care, highlighting the 15 per cent pay rise on award wages for aged care workers and the new requirement for services to have at least one registered nurse on shift at all times as ways the Commonwealth was improving staffing and sustainability of the industry.
The Illawarra's additional aged care beds will open over the next few months.
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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.
