Catholic Health Australia Submission: Consultation on the Pricing Framework for Australian Public Hospital Services 2027–28
July 1, 2026
CHA backs private health reforms and calls for swift implementation
July 2, 2026
Catholic Health Australia is calling for coordinated reform to address bed block which has soared 60 per cent in the past three years, according to new analysis.
The number of days patients were kept in hospital despite being ready for discharge into aged care increased from 286,050 in 2020-21 to 460,122 in 2023-24, costing the health system up to $1.61 billion annually, according to CHA analysis.
CHA says the problem starts outside the hospital. Aged care, disability support and housing are all part of the same system as hospitals, but they are funded and run separately, and patients get caught in the gaps between them when one part can’t take them.
The organisation is hosting a parliamentary roundtable in Canberra today to look at the issue, chaired by Dr Mike Freelander MP, with the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae MP, attending.
“Thousands of Australians are occupying acute hospital beds right now simply because there is nowhere else for them to go,” said Dr Katharine Bassett, Acting CEO of CHA.
“This isn’t a hospital problem. It’s a care economy problem. People are falling through the cracks, and they pay for it in lost time, lost health and lost dignity.”
“You can’t fix this inside the hospital walls alone. The reform has to be system-wide, and it has to be urgent.”
CHA wants the Federal Government to fund a national pool of around 600 transition beds. These would give patients short-term, non-acute care while they wait for a permanent place in aged care or community support. CHA puts the cost at $429.7 million over the forward estimates.
“The 600 beds give patients somewhere to go while they wait for a permanent place,” said Dr Bassett. “They take the immediate pressure off hospitals, and because they’re linked into aged care and community support, patients keep moving through to the right setting instead of getting stuck again.”
CHA is also asking for 150 hospital liaison officers and 150 discharge planners to be placed across hospitals, aged care, NDIS and housing, with the authority to move patients through the system.
“We’ve seen this work,” said Dr Bassett. “When the NDIS brought in dedicated hospital liaison officers in 2022, waiting times dropped and the health system saved hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s the best evidence we have that coordinated reform pays off, and it’s worth doing at scale across aged care, not just disability.”
Elsewhere, some aged care providers use liaison officers to improve the experience of their clients to great effect, but these roles are typically unfunded and therefore inconsistent and not always sustainable.
The biggest improvements to tackling bed block will come from properly funding new builds, including through a comprehensive and nationally consistent no-interest loan scheme. CHA wants 60,000 extra home care packages a year and 5,000 extra residential aged care beds built each year.
“A lot of the bed block comes down to the shortage of aged care beds and packages,” said Dr Bassett. “If we meet that demand, older Australians get the care they need and hospital beds free up for the people who need them. Everyone wins.”
CHA wants these measures written into the next National Health Reform Agreement, so the Commonwealth and the states share responsibility for getting patients out of hospital safely and on time.
The roundtable is sponsored by HESTA, a long-time supporter of CHA.
