Clogging up the System !

"Public Money " is what the various levels of government scrape together from taxes, fines and all those myriad charges that are levied on the average citizen.  It is constantly fought over by the various departments that provide services in the public sector.  Lack of sufficient funds is the universal excuse for shortfalls in health, education and what is now called "social housing ".

We constantly hear gripes about the waiting list to access surgical procedures in the public hospital system. As is usually the case, delays inflicted by one service provider are on-flowing to clog up availability to allow other services to proceed.  It is a lack of available beds that halts the flow of surgery because they are taken by patients awaiting discharge. In many cases this involves an elderly person and discharge awaits a decision by the bureaucracy on the "guardianship "issue.

When the ambulance service attends an elderly person it is normal procedure to present them to the public hospital emergency department for assessment.   As part of that procedure their circumstances are evaluated and it is often found that such a person would be unsafe returned to where they had been living alone.  If they have no family, the government appoints itself their guardian - and that takes time.

On average, such elderly folk occupy a hospital bed for eighty-three days while that decision is made and arrangements for alternative care are processed.  There is no other alternative and even when the guardianship decision has been made the lack of available accommodation for the elderly may extend the use of a hospital bed for a longer period.

Unfortunately, our public hospital system has become the "option of last resort "! No matter how overcrowded and under stress, that is where the ambulances deliver their loads.   The hospital simply has to cope as best it can, and when serious shortfalls gain media attention it come under very unfair criticism.

Obviously, the provision of more nursing home beds and living facilities for the elderly would alleviate the strain on the public hospital system, but to allocate the funds necessary  would deprive all those other "essential "services of money to attain service levels.   The gaps this would create would quickly flow on to other departments in the crisis management chain.

There is a growing tendency for fewer but bigger regional hospitals equipped with all the expensive medical machinery that is required for modern medicine.  As a result, many smaller city and country hospitals are being downgraded and their use as recovery centres can take the pressure off bed availability in those major units.

It seems that our demographics are heading towards a bigger but older population.   The trend towards childless families will exacerbate the number of elderly eventually looking for public support in their old age.   It seems that the care industry is a growth factor that needs to be exploited, not only to save our public hospital system but to create the job opportunities and career prospects of those living in a more robotic world.

Care of the aged seems to be a "job opportunity " for the future !