New South Wales has commissioned a six-month review into the rising number of older patients remaining in public hospital beds after they are medically fit to leave, with mounting concern over pressure on capacity and patient care.
The state’s Productivity and Equality Commission will examine the scale, cost and causes of delayed discharges, often referred to by clinicians as patients being “stranded”. The review is expected to set out options to ease bottlenecks, expand access to suitable follow-up care, and support hospital staff managing the flow of patients through already stretched systems.
The move follows agreement at a recent meeting of health ministers to establish a national Hospital Discharge Joint Taskforce, co-led by the Commonwealth and NSW governments. The taskforce is intended to address delays tied to access to aged care and National Disability Insurance Scheme placements, both of which sit largely within federal responsibility.
Recent figures from NSW Health point to a sharp rise in the number of older patients unable to leave hospital despite being cleared for discharge. The count has grown from 300 in December 2023 to 776 in 2025. Over the same period, the total number of days these patients have spent waiting in hospital beds has increased from 11,943 to 44,487.
Officials say the trend reflects a mismatch between hospital throughput and the availability of appropriate care settings outside acute wards. For patients, extended stays can mean loss of independence and exposure to hospital-related risks. For the system, it reduces the number of beds available for people requiring urgent treatment.
NSW Health will support the commission’s work by providing data, staff and operational insight, with a focus on identifying practical changes both inside hospitals and across community and aged care services. The aim is to develop recommendations that are grounded in evidence and can be implemented without delay.
The state government has already introduced measures aimed at easing the pressure. These include outreach programmes in which clinicians visit aged care residents in their homes or facilities, an approach designed to reduce unnecessary emergency department presentations and support earlier discharge where possible.
Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the situation was placing strain on both patients and hospitals, arguing that delays in moving people into appropriate care settings were limiting the system’s ability to respond to more urgent cases. He added that while the issue is national in scope, the state could not afford to wait for a federal solution.
Health Minister Ryan Park described the scale of the problem as equivalent to losing the capacity of an entire hospital each day. He said hospitals were not designed for long-term stays and that patients waiting for placement deserved more appropriate care environments.
Park said the review would examine what further steps could be taken within the state’s control, even as NSW continues to press the Commonwealth to address shortages in aged care placements. He pointed to the rapid rise in delayed discharges over the past three years as evidence of a system under mounting strain.
The national taskforce is expected to operate alongside the NSW review, with a broader remit to coordinate policy responses across jurisdictions. Its success may depend on how quickly additional aged care capacity can be brought online and whether coordination between hospitals, aged care providers and disability services can be improved.
Health policy analysts have long warned that discharge delays reflect deeper structural issues, including workforce shortages in aged care, funding constraints and the complexity of matching patients with appropriate services. While the NSW review may identify short-term efficiencies, lasting change is likely to require cooperation between state and federal governments.
For now, the commission’s findings will be closely watched by hospital administrators and clinicians dealing with daily capacity pressures. The recommendations are due within six months, at a time when demand for hospital services continues to rise and the system faces ongoing challenges in balancing acute care needs with longer-term patient support.
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