Full Breakdown
Australian Emergency Departments Face “Terrifying” Crisis as Elderly Demand Surges
By Drooid · · How we work
Escalating strain on emergency services
On October 13, 2026, the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine released its State of Emergency 2026 report, warning that Australia’s health system is unprepared for a rapid rise in older patients seeking emergency care. The report projects a 411 % increase in patients aged 85 and over by 2050 and notes that one in five Australians will be 65 or older by 2030. Emergency physicians say the growing “bed block” – patients waiting in corridors for inpatient beds – is already putting older patients at greater risk of death within seven days of presentation.
Data and statistics
- Older adults (65 +) accounted for one-quarter of the 9 million ED presentations in 2023-24, a 16 % jump from 2018-19, while younger patients rose only 4 %.
- More than 53,500 older patients spent over 24 hours in an ED awaiting a ward bed in 2023-24, a ?250 % rise from 15,084 in 2018-19.
- Over 50 % of older arrivals in 2023-24 came by ambulance; nearly 70 % were triaged as urgent, and one-in-two were admitted – more than twice the admission rate of younger patients.
- Victoria has the lowest public-hospital-bed ratio nationally at 2.33 beds per 1,000 people (national average 2.52). NSW added only 14 public inpatient beds between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
- Government projections call for ?10,600 new aged-care beds per year; only 802 were added in 2024-25.
Official statements and responses
Health Minister Mark Butler acknowledged historic federal investments—including increased funding, more aged-care beds, bulk-billing expansions, and 137 Medicare urgent-care clinics—but warned that labour shortages limit further growth of home-care packages.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park announced a $35.7 million aged-care response package and a $10.3 billion four-year health-budget increase.
Victorian Health Minister Ingrid Stitt highlighted investments in hospital-in-the-home services, virtual EDs, urgent-care clinics, and specialist frailty programs, and said the state will consider the report’s recommendations.
Verbatim quotes
- “When you’ve got a 97-year-old sitting in a plastic chair overnight waiting for care, we’re failing, and it’s downright embarrassing that this is happening every day,” — Allely, college president
- “Our health system is at a tipping point. We can expect things to get much worse in the coming years unless we act.” — Associate Professor Mark Putland, chair associate professor
- “Our entire healthcare system is geared towards acute care of younger patients, and we need to collectively shift that to being able to provide safe, effective and compassionate care to older Australians,” — Skinner
- “It’s [about] the ability of our country to absorb greater numbers of people in terms of housing and transport and other infrastructure, but also recognising that significant parts of our economy are substantially staffed by migrants, and aged care is right up there.” — Mark Butler, health minister
What’s next
State and territory health leaders have met with the federal health minister to seek urgent funding for additional aged-care places and to expand alternative care pathways, such as hospital-in-the-home programs and virtual urgent-care clinics, aiming to alleviate the pressure on emergency departments.
