At $1245 a day, the cost of caring for an older patient stranded in hospital while awaiting an aged care bed is comparable to a night at one of Australia’s most exclusive hotels.

The figure comes from a new NSW Productivity and Equality Commission report, which found that more than half of the 1800 patients currently stranded in the state’s public hospitals were awaiting residential aged care.

The commission estimated that the cost of providing so-called “maintenance care” during these delays was $377 million in 2025/26, equivalent to $1245 per patient per day — roughly the price of a night at Park Hyatt Sydney, a five-star establishment overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The average length of stay for a stranded patient was 23.3 days, accounting for some 303,000 “stranded patient” bed days over the course of the year.