00:01Thank you everybody. We've had a few hours of really productive discussion across state and territories and of course with
00:11Minister Butler. A couple of key issues that were discussed, state and territories expressed great concern and their ongoing concern
00:19about the large numbers of aged care patients stuck in our state's hospitals.
00:24Across the country that represents around 3,700 odd beds here in New South Wales. That's over a thousand. But
00:33the real concern is the rapid increase in these numbers over the last 12 to 18 months. This is putting
00:40an enormous strain on our state's hospital system.
00:44It's the equivalent here in New South Wales of two large Sydney hospitals every morning taken offline and unavailable for
00:51patients coming into our hospitals through ED or elective surgery.
00:56This is particularly important because we are in winter. This is the busiest time for our health systems. We made
01:04it clear to Minister Butler that the Commonwealth need to continue to do more.
01:07We need to see more aged care packages and home care packages become available and the value of those home
01:14care packages be delivered in totality and in full so we can get patients out of our hospitals.
01:21We emphasise the need for additional beds but we all recognise that that is more of a medium to long
01:26term solution.
01:28We are going to continue to have these discussions. We are going to continue to raise these issues. We have
01:34no choice as those who are accountable and responsible to get people access to health care as quickly as possible
01:42across our state and territory jurisdictions.
01:44We have a responsibility to advocate on behalf of our respective state and territories to make sure the Commonwealth understand
01:51the severity of this issue.
01:53Now we welcome Minister Butler's investment a few months ago into capital in this space. We want to see that
02:00more broadly offered across state and territories but this remains arguably the biggest challenge facing health systems across this country
02:09right now.
02:10Really importantly we will continue these discussions. This is not the end of this discussion. We will continue to have
02:18this and continue to have robust debate around this going forward.
