Patients aged 65+ left waiting over 24 hours in Australian emergency departments surge 254pc

Medical staff transport a patient outside the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne as Australia’s hospitals face growing pressure to meet the needs of an ageing population. — AFP file pic

First Published: Tuesday, 13 Oct 2026 4:22 PM MYT

MELBOURNE, Oct 13 — Emergency departments at Australian hospitals are unprepared for the country’s ageing population, a report has warned, according to Xinhua.

The report released on Tuesday by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) said almost nine million people sought care at emergency departments nationwide in 2023-24, a quarter of whom were aged 65 and over.

Within that age group, more than half arrived at hospital by ambulance, almost 70 per cent needed urgent care and 50 per cent were admitted to a hospital bed, compared with less than a quarter of younger patients.

It said 53,510 older patients spent longer than 24 hours in emergency departments awaiting a hospital bed in 2023-24, up 254 per cent from 15,084 in 2018-19, while only 54 per cent of older patients who needed admission left the emergency department within the eight-hour target.

A landmark intergenerational report released by the federal Treasury in September projected that the proportion of Australia’s population aged 65 and over would grow from 17.8 per cent currently to 24.8 per cent by 2066.

The ACEM report projected that emergency department arrivals among people aged 85 and over would increase by 411 per cent by 2050.

“Our health system and its workforce are just not equipped for this demographic change,” ACEM president Peter Allely said in a media release.

“Unless these serious issues are addressed as a matter of urgency, emergency care will come too late for many Australians.”

The report made several recommendations to federal, state and territory governments, including improving integration between hospitals and aged care, increasing funding and rapidly expanding the residential aged care sector. — Bernama-Xinhua