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One week after publicly decrying goodwill between the Queensland and federal governments, Premier David Crisafulli has renewed cries for Commonwealth health funding to aged care and disabled patients “stranded” in hospitals.
The premier took aim at the federal government last Sunday, ending what he called the “cannoli diplomacy” – based his shared Italian heritage shared with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – over NDIS responsibilities he said had been wrongfully signed over to state governments.
Speaking on Sunday from Redland Hospital, Crisafulli said up to one-in-five beds in some Queensland hospitals were occupied long-term by patients awaiting permanent care arrangements.
The Redland Hospital had about 60 out of 262 beds occupied by long-stay patients awaiting specialist facilities.Credit: Redland Hospital
“They’re stranded in hospitals where they should be given the dignity of care in dedicated facilities,” he said.
“When you see the pressure that that is putting on our health system, that’s alarming, but more alarming is the pressure it’s putting on families.”
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Crisafulli said the state government was building facilities to support aged care patients and people living with disabilities in Queensland, but could not keep ahead of demand without Commonwealth support.
“We are taking responsibility for the things that we control,” he said.
“We’re asking the federal government to take responsibility for the things that they have to control, things like aged care, things like disability care.”
Speaking alongside the premier, Health Minister Tim Nicholls estimated 60 beds – about 22 per cent of maximum capacity – in Redland Hospital were taken up by patients left waiting for a specialist facility that didn’t yet exist.
“We are ground zero for the problem,” Nicholls said.
“In places like Rockhampton and Townsville, we have patients who have been in our hospitals for over 1000 days.”
Statewide, Nicholls estimated 1126 people occupied these long-stay beds in hospitals.
“That is a hospital the size of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, the largest hospital in the state,” he said.
Crisafulli said Queensland was “the tip of the spear” because it was a particularly decentralised state, but said pressure on the federal government had come from other state and territories in “a national push for a national problem”.
Premier David Crisafulli (right) said the federal government led by Prime Minster Anthony Albanese (left) needed to take responsibility for health care funding.Credit: Dan Peled
“This is uncharted territory – it’s very rare for state and territory premiers to come to one,” he said.
“The reason why is we all see the same thing, and that is the dignity of care cannot be made available if the federal government doesn’t step up to the plate.”
In early October, state governments criticised federal Health Minister Mark Butler over plans to rein in national spending across health, aged care and the NDIS, expected to balloon to more than 25 per cent of the federal budget by the next election.
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State and territory governments said the resulting belt-tightening would see them short-changed tens of billions of dollars.
In 2023, the federal government promised to cover 42.5 per cent of public hospital costs by 2030 and 45 per cent by 2035.
Last month, it denied claims it was not contributing to state and territory health budgets, pointing to an additional $20 billion over five years for public hospitals on top of $195 billion. Crisafulli said the amount still fell short of earlier promises.
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