{"id":879662,"date":"2026-09-04T11:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879662\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T11:46:18","slug":"geriatricians-in-eds-the-melbourne-hospitals-initiative-saving-thousands-of-bed-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879662\/","title":{"rendered":"Geriatricians in EDs: The Melbourne hospitals initiative saving thousands of bed days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Henrietta<\/p>\n

September 4, 2026 \u2014 7:00pm<\/p>\n

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In January, 90-year-old Joan Rodriguez fell off a chair and hit her head on her tiled kitchen floor.<\/p>\n

The artist \u2013 who cut her elbow and bruised her left leg and hip \u2013 pressed the emergency alarm on her watch and was rushed to St Vincent\u2019s Hospital by ambulance.<\/p>\n

\"JoanJoan Rodriguez avoided an unnecessary hospital admission through a new initiative that embeds geriatricians in emergency departments.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n

But instead of being admitted as a patient, she was assessed by an emergency doctor and a geriatrician and sent home with a comprehensive team of health professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor older people, the longer you stay in hospital the less function you maintain,\u201d explained her daughter Miranda, who is a nurse. \u201cThey lose the ability to do things for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of older Victorians are avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions through a new initiative that embeds geriatricians in emergency departments, diverting patients to more suitable care.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

As Australian health ministers met on Friday to express concerns about the growing issue of hospital bed block, Victorian hospitals are stepping in with their own solution by fast-tracking out-of-hospital care for older, suitable patients to free up vital beds.<\/p>\n

St Vincent\u2019s Hospital Melbourne employs geriatricians who work alongside emergency department clinicians five days a week to assess older patients and safely divert them to their homes, aged care facilities or rehabilitation services.<\/p>\n

This has freed up more than 1000 hospital bed days a year for patients needing more urgent hospital care, according to Dr Richard Kane, clinical director of geriatric medicine at St Vincent\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that most people \u2013 not just older people \u2013 would prefer to receive their care at home, if the option is available and it\u2019s clinically safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He said about 50 per cent of older patients who were planned for admission from the hospital\u2019s emergency department were now diverted by geriatricians to other more suitable environments.<\/p>\n

In Rodriguez\u2019s case, this involved a fortnight at her supported accommodation in Fitzroy with visits from occupational therapists and nurses and a phone consultation with a pharmacist. Six weeks later, she underwent a comprehensive health check at one of St Vincent\u2019s aged care services, where her cognitive decline, hearing loss and medication was assessed.<\/p>\n

Her medication was tweaked, and a geriatrician at the service recommended that Rodriguez move from her supported accommodation and into aged care.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was failing at home and they could see it,\u201d said Miranda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat early intervention in the ED was key. It put us on a pathway to receiving 24-hour support in aged care, which has been such a relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other health services that have embedded geriatricians in their emergency departments include the Austin, Eastern Health and Monash Health.<\/p>\n

At Monash Health, the initiative has reduced the proportion of patients aged 65 and over being admitted from the emergency ward by 4 per cent. This equates to 1237 avoided admissions or 6186 hospital bed days per annum.<\/p>\n

At the Austin, one-third of patients seen by the hospital\u2019s Geriatric ED Innovation program avoid an inpatient stay and receive care and support outside the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe innovation has driven a sustained 5 per cent reduction in admission rates for older persons and a 10 per cent reduction in inpatient length of stay,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n

Dr Jonathan Beavers, a geriatrician and clinical services director at Eastern Health, said since late 2024, its geriatrician in the emergency department initiative had safely diverted almost 2000 older adults to other pathways. It recently expanded the service to include an occupational therapist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis provides better care for our patients who can be safely treated at home, while also freeing-up vital beds for those patients who still need care inside our hospitals,\u201d Beavers said.<\/p>\n

Kane said that older patients presented more to hospital and were more likely to be admitted and experience complications.<\/p>\n

\"JoanJoan Rodriguez was glad to avoid an emergency room admission.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n

These complications include delirium, infections and an increased risk of falls.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumer surveys almost invariably tell us patients prefer to be cared for at home if it\u2019s safe to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re able to assess the person with a team in their own environment, with their own bed, chair, and equipment, it gives us a much more realistic impression of what we can do to support them to stay independent at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

While emergency department doctors do an incredible job of stabilising urgent medical issues and assessing whether people need to be admitted, Kane said geriatricians had incredible knowledge of older people and available support.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur lens is slightly different to theirs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of our knowledge of older people, their function, frailty, and the systems outside the hospital, we\u2019re really well-positioned to help make those decisions and facilitate transfers to alternative care models.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the model offered a solution to the issue of bed block by alleviating pressure on hospital beds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good because it is effective from a reduction of hospital pressure perspective, but it\u2019s also good because it aligns with what patients want.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, state and territory health ministers raised their concerns about the growing problem of hospital bed block at a meeting in Sydney and called on the federal government to address the issue.<\/p>\n

They released data showing that more than 3600 patients are stranded in public hospitals across Australia waiting for Commonwealth Government aged care placements. In Victoria, 302 patients are stuck in hospital and waiting for aged care placement. This rose by 29 per cent between March and June.<\/p>\n

Victorian Health Minister Ingrid Stitt said she was concerned about a rise in older Victorians languishing in hospitals when they should be in an aged care facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people deserve to get the care in the right settings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said these issues persisted despite Victoria having the benefit of having more than 5500 publicly funded aged care beds.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"HenriettaHenrietta Cook<\/a> is a senior reporter covering health for The Age. Henrietta joined The Age in 2012 and has previously covered state politics, education and consumer affairs. Email her via henrietta.cook@theage.com.au or henrietta.cook@protonmail.comConnect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 4, 2026 \u2014 7:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":["post-879662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}