Empty chair at bed shortage summit highlights state-federal tensions
At a meeting where South Australian government ministers, health and union officials discussed ramping and aged care, there was a notable absence.
A South Australian government report revealed a lack of 500 aged care beds is contributing to hospital ramping spikes, with double the number of federally-funded beds necessary to address demand. Despite the state government's claims that these beds could have reduced ambulance ramping hours by two-thirds, the Commonwealth government countered that the states had rejected a $2 billion reform offer.
An empty chair was set aside for Federal Aged Care Minister Sam Rae at a meeting of state officials in Adelaide, highlighting tensions between the federal and state governments. South Australia's health minister, Blair Boyer, presented modelling at the meeting, stating that the number of patients in public hospital beds unable to transfer to aged care beds currently stands at around 500 and could rise to nearly 700 during next winter's peak.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
