Australia’s health system is not equipped for the surge in older patients, according to a study by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).
The State of Emergency 2026 report (pdf) described prolonged waits for hospital beds in emergency departments—with some patients waiting more than eight hours—as Australia’s most pressing emergency department patient safety issue.
Dr. Peter Allely, the College’s president, said the report’s data reflected what emergency physicians experienced on the floor every day.
“Australia’s population is ageing rapidly, and the number of older Australians has been forecast to continue growing. By 2030, it is projected that nearly one in five Australians will be aged 65 and over,” he said.
“Australia’s health system and its health workforce are just not equipped for this demographic change.”
Allely said desperately needed care was being delivered in corridors or on hard plastic chairs as staff struggled to find available beds.
The report found public emergency departments logged a record 8,924,378 presentations in 2023-24, almost a quarter of them by older people.
However, only 54 percent of older patients who were admitted into an inpatient bed left the emergency department within the College’s recommended eight-hour target.
The report noted 53,510 older people spent more than 24 hours in an emergency department waiting for an inpatient bed in 2023-24, nearly 40,000 more than in 2018-19.
Further, it cited a national report card from December 2025 showing that 3,049 older Australians were occupying public hospital beds while waiting for residential aged care places. More recent reports put the figure at 3,274.
“Despite the scale and predictability of demographic trends, Federal, State and Territory Governments to date have not done enough to prepare for the volume and complexity of acute care needs as the population ages,” Dr. Allely said.
Minister Says Australia Is at a Tipping Point
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler acknowledged that Australia was approaching a tipping point as its population ages.
“As the oldest baby boomers start to enter their 80s, their need for good quality aged care and health services is skyrocketing, frankly,” he told reporters.
“And that’s a challenge for all governments, not just the Commonwealth government, one we are very much seized of, and I’ve talked about publicly.
“That is the more work that we have to do to make sure that our health and aged care services are up to scratch and are going to provide the high quality, dignified care that a generation of Australians that has done so much to build this country deserve.”
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