The announcement comes amid ongoing negotiations with the federal government to secure greater public hospital funding, with Queensland rejecting an offer put forward last week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered the states an extra $3 billion, on top of $20 billion already pledged, over the next five-year term to help alleviate the number of stranded elderly and NDIS patients stuck in public hospitals, in turn reducing ambulance ramping and freeing up hospital beds.
Nicholls said the offer does not meet the state’s requirements and said the federal government must commit more to improved aged care and disability services.
“The ramping crisis is being driven by the inability to move older Australians out of our hospital beds and into residential aged care, and to younger Australians who can’t access NDIS packages,” he said.
“If we could move just 10 to 15 per cent of those stranded patients into the care that they need, we would have a lot more capacity in our hospitals.”
