‘It’s human nature to pick easier residents’: How to get patients with dementia into aged care and out of hospitals
Associate Professor Steve Macfarlane says patients become stranded as aged care facilities are wary of patients with dementia.
Bed block is worsening across Australia, but many doctors say the solution lies outside the hospital — that a lack of aged care beds means elderly patients languish in hospital beds, deteriorating.
But one program to get patients with dementia out of hospital beds and into aged care has freed up 667 beds in 14 months.
The Hospital to Aged Care Dementia Support Program (HACDSP) has grown from local state-based trials in 2023 to a nationwide program in 2025.
Based on its success, the latest federal budget funded its expansion from 11 to 20 sites.
