Most Australian hospitals and emergency departments are not equipped for the demand created by an ageing population, according to the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), the peak body for emergency doctors, which warns of long waits and corridors crowded with patients. Its third annual State of Emergency report found that in 2023-24 only 54 per cent of older patients who arrived at an emergency department were given an inpatient bed within eight hours, down from 75 per cent in 2018-19.
The college said the decline is continuing. Presentations by older people rose 16 per cent in the five years to 2023-24, compared with 4 per cent for younger patients. Every state and territory except the ACT recorded more older patients waiting longer than eight hours over that period, and the number of older people spending more than 24 hours in an emergency department rose from 15,084 to 53,510, a three-and-a-half-fold increase. Younger patients are also waiting longer, but a far larger share of older patients face long stays, and the gap is widening.
The report comes with accounts such as that of Elsie Gribben, an 89-year-old Perth grandmother who waited almost 48 hours in corridors at St John of God Midland Hospital in March. Her daughter, Susan Chapman, said her mother could not walk, was sometimes left unsupervised and had no access to a toilet, and that conditions had not improved at the hospitals she has visited since. ACEM president Peter Allely said pressure on aged care was spilling into emergency departments and warned that care “will come too late for many Australians” unless the problems are addressed urgently. He said an ageing population reflects progress in medicine, but that the health system and its workforce are not ready for the change, with nearly one in five Australians expected to be aged 65 or over by 2030.
Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler said state and territory governments are responsible for improving the hospital system. He acknowledged real pressures on aged care, said it was “time for state governments to deliver on their promises”, and pointed to federal spending aimed at easing the load on state hospitals. ACEM is calling on state and federal governments to improve the links between hospitals and aged care services. Its other recommendations cover funding, access to general practitioners, and better data and research, which the college says are needed before the share of older Australians grows further.
