Shorter hospital stays for NDIS participants saving ‘hundreds of millions’, Bill Shorten says
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Version 0 of 1. Outgoing minister says combination of more medium-term housing and dedicated staff has dropped average discharge rate to a record low of 20 days A major fall in the number of days National Disability Insurance Scheme participants are staying in hospital is saving the public health system “hundreds of millions of dollars”, the federal government said. NDIS participants who were medically cleared to leave hospital had previously been waiting an average of 160 days to be discharged due to paperwork requirements and a lack of suitable housing to move them into. It meant patients who effectively did not need to be in hospital were taking up beds needed for other patients at a cost to the public health system of about $2,500 a night. But new figures from the National Disability Insurance Agency, released on Friday, showed the average discharge rate fell to 20 days nationally in November – the shortest on record. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email The “bed block” had created tension between the states and territories, which run the hospitals, and the commonwealth, which is in charge of the disability scheme. Bill Shorten, the minister in charge of the disability insurance scheme, said the reduction in average wait times from the 2022 peak was a “massive improvement for the welfare and wellbeing of people on the NDIS”. He said the improvement was the result of several factors, including building up a team of “hospital wranglers” to help speed up the discharge process. The disability agency now employs a team of roughly 200 planners and hospital liaison officers whose primary job is to help NDIS participants transition into the community. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion New options for “medium-term” accommodation for participants to move into was also helping, Shorten said. There were 2,721 NDIS participants in hospitals nationwide as of 9 December. “It’s just massive, hundreds of millions of dollars [in] saving[s] for the healthcare system,” Shorten said of the fall in average wait times. “But most importantly, no one wants to be in hospital a minute longer than they have to. “Hospital resources are scarce and overstretched. This is the NDIS working well with the healthcare system to make things better for everyone.” Shorten, who will quit politics in February to begin a new role as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, has made tackling bed block a priority since Labor came to power in 2022. He acknowledged the “system isn’t perfect” and some participants were languishing in hospital longer than the 20-day average, but said this would have “positive repercussions through our hospital system for our waiting lists for people with disability”. |