The tragic story of James Brown, who died waiting for a residential aged care bed, underscores the growing crisis in Australia’s aged care system. James was diagnosed with dementia in 2018. By June 2024, his health had declined to the point that a fall required hospitalization. James was put on a waiting list for a bed in an aged care facility three months prior to his death. Even with constant home care from his wife, Jan Brown, he eventually died from hospital-acquired pneumonia at Wollongong Hospital in August 2024.
James’s daughter, Renee Santos, said she was heartbroken over the conditions in which her father spent his last months. They pushed through trauma and adversity, all within a broken system that she now feels completely fails individuals with dementia. “Dementia patients seem to be left on the shelf and are the last to find aged care homes,” Santos stated. Her father’s experience illustrates the alarming systemic failures within the aged care sector. It barely treads water to meet the increasing demand for their core functions.
Growing Demand for Aged Care Facilities
Mark Sewell, the former chief executive at Illawarra residential aged care, first raised the warning flag about a looming crisis. He cautioned that a huge tsunami of seniors will require care in the next ten years. He acknowledged that the problem of aged care shortages is the worst it’s ever been in the past three years. In the home state of James Brown, at one point over 4,000 beds were occupied. Yet, this still amounted to a staggering 1,000 bed shortage – a 25 percent deficit.
We have a big tsunami of people,” Sewell cautioned, stressing that existing systems are not having to prepare for a much larger onslaught of demand. He went on to describe how one-third of people requiring beds are coming from hospitals while two-thirds are moving directly from community settings. More than 1,000 people are now stuck in public hospitals in New South Wales. Instead, they languish in hospitals waiting for appropriate residential care, an issue called “bed block” or “delayed discharge.”
Systemic Failures and Family Impact
The Brown family’s story exposes more than just the terrible systemic failures that cut life-saving support during crucial times for our most vulnerable friends and neighbors. Santos described her father’s situation as a failure of the system that “fails to look after the most vulnerable people in their greatest moment of need.” She noted that her father, a working-class family man, had earned the dignity and comfort of retirement.
“Dad was a humble, working-class family man who worked hard all his life, and he deserved to have some dignity, peace and comfort in his remaining years,” Santos expressed. Her moving comments get to the heart of the human impact of administrative failures and service deficiencies.
Santos further criticized the conditions faced by patients awaiting care: “That’s no existence for a human being. That’s not living.” This experience speaks to the sentiment of so many families who have unfortunately experienced the same ordeal when trying to find suitable aged care services.
Government Response and Challenges
As the crisis continues, the NSW government has begun to walk back their decision. They have pinpointed the lack of federal funding and the flaws in the National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) as contributing factors to the aged care crisis. They raised the issues of waiting times to access Commonwealth aged care services. They identified failures in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as key to that failing.
Federal Aged Care and Seniors Minister Sam Rae indicated that the Commonwealth government has supported New South Wales with nearly $200 million. At the federal level, the government is getting ready to introduce its new Support at Home program. In the coming year, they’ll be taking 80,000 packages to vulnerable communities. Yet many economists aren’t convinced that these steps will do enough to meet the growing demands of an ageing population.
Mark Sewell voiced concern over the stagnation in service growth: “It’s static. We’ve had no growth, no extra beds.” Current resources are facing unprecedented demands on them. It remains to be seen whether these initiatives will actually cut through the systemic issues as evidenced in countless aged care facilities.
