People with disability remain trapped in Queensland hospitals while Canberra and Brisbane fight over who is responsible.

Queensland and Canberra have found a fight both think they can win. People with disability are trapped in the middle.

Queensland Health yesterday published statistics showing more than 1,400 people remain in public hospitals despite being ready to leave. About 300 of these are younger patients waiting for disability support.

Some have waited more than 700 days. One has waited more than 1,000.

Queensland insists aged care and the NDIS are Commonwealth responsibilities. Canberra blames Brisbane (and the other states) for rejecting a ring-fenced $2 billion response, choosing to put money into hospitals instead.

Both accounts are (partially) true, but neither gets anyone home. Politicians on both sides think they can ‘win’.

So who ‘loses’? People with Disability, without support or housing. Or a government prepared to accept responsibility.

“Bed block” turns real people into a hospital capacity problem.

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[continued from the abilityNEWS newsletter]

Yesterday’s Queensland Health release was written as a demand for Commonwealth action. It said delayed discharges had more than tripled since 2022, then stressed that funding and managing aged care were federal responsibilities.

It also advertised Queensland’s hospital building and recruitment plans. The message was neatly divided: Canberra caused the blockage; Queensland is rescuing the system.

Canberra has its own version. During hospital funding negotiations, it offered $2 billion ring-fenced for aged care services. The states and territories rejected the restriction and directed the money into hospitals.

So Canberra blames Queensland for choosing beds over discharge pathways. Queensland blames Canberra for failing to supply the support patients need to leave those beds.

The argument is almost perfectly designed to continue.

The language gives the game away. These patients are called “stranded Australians”, but discussed as blocked beds. Their value enters the argument through the pressure they place on emergency departments, ambulances and budgets.

Those pressures are real. They are not the whole story, as this ABC report shows.

A hospital treats acute illness. It is not a home. Long stays can strip strength, independence and confidence. They expose patients to noise, distress and infection. For someone with intellectual, psychosocial or complex physical disability, an unfamiliar ward can also disrupt communication, routine and trusted support.

Discharge must mean somewhere safe, with suitable housing, equipment and people able to provide the necessary support. That takes the NDIS, health services, housing and community providers working together.

It cannot be delivered by press release and the posturing is beginning already.

Friday’s health ministers’ meeting offers another stage for the contest. Real solutions may be further away.

Queensland can point to rising numbers and say Canberra has abandoned its responsibilities. The Commonwealth can point to the rejected $2 billion and say the states made their choice. Each has evidence. Each has an opponent. Each can claim to defend patients while shifting the bill.

Meanwhile, roughly 300 younger Queenslanders remain in hospital waiting for disability support. They are not blocking the system.

The system is blocking them.

Until governments gain more from getting people home than blaming one another, people with disability will keep paying for a battle neither side wants to end.