Listen to seniors to solve hospital delays
New NSA research on delayed discharge from hospital showcases seniors’ proposed solutions.
Older Australians’ proposed solutions to the national delayed discharge crisis are showcased in a new research report from National Seniors Australia (NSA).
Recent estimates suggest 3,300 people are currently stranded in Australian hospitals, waiting for suitable aged care to become available.
The report, Delayed Discharge from Hospital: Older Australians’ experiences and perspectives, addresses these and other instances of patients’ discharge from hospital being delayed even though they are medically ready to leave.
The report details many suggestions for changes to the health and aged care sectors that could reduce the incidence and duration of delays.
Impressively, 18 of those suggestions echo a suite of solutions proposed by expert consultants in a recently published review.
The report will provide timely input into the national Hospital Discharge Joint Taskforce announced at a meeting of Australia’s Health Ministers in May this year.
18+ solutions for change
The suggestions for change were all proposed by older Australians who participated in the 2026 National Seniors Social Survey (NSSS-26), which asked about their personal experiences with delayed discharge and their views on the issue.
Around 2,100 Australians aged 50-100 contributed their thoughts, feelings and experiences to the survey, including 173 who had experienced delayed discharge themselves, another 173 who had witnessed delay situations in their professional lives, and 476 who had witnessed a friend or family member’s discharge being delayed.
Their proposed solutions include some that were unsurprising because they are already widely discussed in the media, such as:
More residential care, including in regional areas
Faster access to home care and home modifications
Better federal-state government collaboration, and
More staff and funds in these systems in general.
But they also include other solutions less widely discussed:
More transition care facilities – such as rehab, respite, and step-down care – for patients who require some clinical assistance or supervision after medical treatment, but not hospital-level care
Better incorporation of dementia care and specialist clinical care into aged care residences and also at home through community nursing services
Better integration of gerontological expertise into hospital care, to account for older people’s more complex care needs and avoid making things worse through negligence
Discharge planning that starts at hospital admission and takes a tailored, person-centred approach facilitated by an in-hospital aged care navigator, so that quality decisions can be made.
The survey did not just focus on “stranded patients” who stay in hospital for long periods, but also patients experiencing shorter discharge delays. As such, many of the report’s proposals take a whole-of-system approach.
Many of the recommendations address shorter, less media-worthy discharge delays – including delays as short as one day. While less controversial, fixing these delays will also help to free up hospital beds and keep people out of residential aged care.
Read the report for the full list of 18+ solutions and the supporting evidence for them.
Solutions echo expert views and add primary evidence
It is noteworthy that 18 of the solutions in the NSA report were flagged in an expert review published by FTI Consulting just after the NSSS-26 closed.
FTI Consulting’s three-part review argues for practical changes to improve how the healthcare and aged care systems work together, and is based on nation-wide statistics, consultation with experts from these sectors, and key government and peer-reviewed literature.
The NSSS-26 results add more evidence in support of their recommendations, from the grassroots perspective of older people who interact with these systems, many of whom have experienced or witnessed the problems firsthand.
Many of the recommendations were also flagged in a shorter discussion paper released in 2025 by Dementia Australia, COTA, Ageing Australia, and OPAN.
The report’s suggestions can be seen as, in some sense, both validating the conclusions of FTI Consulting and the 2025 discussion paper and also co-designing potential new solutions to discharge delays.
The alignment between the consumer experiences captured in the NSSS-26 and the existing system reviews strengthens confidence that these findings reflect genuine system pressures, and the additional lived experiences of older Australians provide practical insights for reform design.
A fundamental cause: no one at home who can provide care
The report delves into a key cause of the problem that neither FTI Consulting’s review nor the 2025 discussion paper dwelt on: the fact that many older Australians simply have no one in their lives who can provide care to them once they are discharged from hospital.
Many of the NSSS-26 participants who had experienced delays themselves had been delayed less than one week, often only overnight because of precautionary post-surgery rules.
Having someone at home to keep an eye on them would have prevented this delay in many cases.
But some older people cannot get any such support, even for a day, if they don’t have adequate professional home care and have no friend or family member to provide it.
This aspect of the picture has not attracted much attention but must be taken into consideration in future planning around hospital care, both because older people are more likely to need hospital care, and because they are more likely to live alone.
As the FTI Consulting review documented, older people make up “a disproportionately high share of emergency department presentations and hospital admissions”.
Australians aged 65+ generally have a higher admission rate and longer average lengths of stay than the national figures.
And this increases with age, with women aged 85+ presenting to hospital at a rate more than double the national average, and men aged 85+ presenting at almost triple the rate.
On top of that, ABS figures show the likelihood of a person living alone increases with age.
At the high end, a striking 41% of women aged 85+ and 25% of 85+ men lived in a lone person household at the 2016 census.
Even at younger ages, a quarter of all people aged 65+ lived alone that year, compared to 10% of all Australians.
So many older people living alone, while being more vulnerable to hospitalisation, is a recipe for delayed discharge, or worse, being stranded in hospital indefinitely.
We must also take into account the fact that some older people who live with a partner or another person can’t get the post-hospital care they need either, if those they live with are unable or unwilling to provide it.
For example, some elderly couples may be too frail to look after each other after a hospital stay if it involves moving or lifting their partner.
Some survey participants also shared stories of abuse and violence that meant a stranded patient could not return home safely or would not be cared for if they did return home.
Once we understand these realities of people’s lives, we must ensure our solutions account for them.
And some of the solutions proposed by NSSS-26 participants do. For example, the suggestion to build more transitional care facilities would go a long way towards helping older people in these situations.
This is just one reason we urge governments to listen to the voices of older Australians on this issue.
Read the full report here.
Thousands of Australia-wide discounts
Exclusive offers and savings across dining, shopping, gift cards, and more – all in the EAT | PLAY | SAVE app.
Members save 10% on Travel Insurance*
National Seniors members receive a 10% discount on travel insurance policies*.
Financial Information Consultant
Speak to a real person and receive up-to-date information on retirement planning, superannuation, and more!
Branches
Expand your social circle, enjoy social events, day trips, guest speakers, and meet like-minded members.
Exclusive Travel Discounts
Save on tours, cruises, and holidays with exclusive discounts on National Seniors Travel.
Our Generation Digital Magazine
Receive a yearly subscription to Our Generation Digital Magazine.
The Good Guys Commercial
Members enjoy exclusive access to The Good Guys Corporate Benefits. Save on small and large appliances as well as technology.
Advocacy & Research
Your membership directly funds our advocacy and research work fighting issues that affect you.
Competitions
Access exclusive member-only weekly competitions including books, DVDs, CDs, movie tickets and more.
Discounts
In addition to the discounts app, members can save thousands on eGift Cards and other discounted products.
*The discount applies to the total National Seniors travel insurance premium and is for National Seniors Australia members only. Discounts do not apply to the rate of GST and stamp duty or any changes you make to the policy. nib has the discretion to withdraw or amend this discount offer at any time. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional offer or discount. ^ Cover is subject to terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions in the PDS.
National Seniors Australia Ltd ABN 89 050 523 003, AR 282736 is an authorised representative of nib Travel Services (Australia) Pty Ltd (nib), ABN 81 115 932 173, AFSL 308461 and act as nib's agent and not as your agent. This is general advice only. Before you buy, you should consider your needs, the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), Financial Services Guide (FSG) and Target Market Determination (TMD) available from us. This insurance is underwritten by Pacific International Insurance Pty Ltd, ABN 83 169 311 193.
