State and territory health ministers will present the federal government with an aged care report card at a meeting in Canberra on Friday, showing 3137 people are in hospitals awaiting aged care.
The number of aged care patients who have no medical reason to be in hospital has surged by 30 per cent in five months, according to the ministers' report card.
Queensland was experiencing the highest level of bed-blocking, with 1096 aged care patients in public hospitals, followed by NSW at 848 and South Australia at 383.
The ministers' report said there was a direct link between bed-blocking and emergency department waiting times.
Its release highlights continued tensions between jurisdictions over the issue, despite the eleventh-hour signing in January of a deal which provides states and territories with an extra $25 billion in commonwealth funding for hospitals.
Part of that funding will help the states manage elderly patients languishing in hospitals, but state and territory ministers maintain more resources are needed to address the "spiralling" problem.
They say the issue is costing taxpayers "well over" a billion dollars a year, with some patients stuck in hospital for years.
Some patients in SA were being cared for in a hotel which the state Labor government had turned into a transition care facility, Health Minister Chris Picton said.
"We continue to call on the federal government to address this crisis that is their responsibility," Mr Picton said in a statement.
"The 3137 older Australians currently stranded in hospitals right across the nation need a home, not a hospital bed."
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has acknowledged the growing problem, saying a new care facility needed to be opened every three days for the next 20 years to accommodate the ageing population.
"Demand for aged care services really is skyrocketing right now because we are in the midst of the first of the baby boomers turning 80," Mr Butler told FIVEAA radio last week.
"It's placing pressure right across the system. I know it's placing pressure on hospitals."
About 90,000 Australians were set to turn 80 in 2027, compared to roughly 15,000 in 2010, Mr Butler said.
He said while more facilities were quickly needed, the government was increasing the number of home care packages.
The NSW and Victorian health ministers were not included in the joint-statement to the federal government.
A 2025 report by an independent NSW advisory council on ageing said underinvestment in the sector contributed to the care shortage, along with old building stock and increased construction costs.
That report also highlighted the negative effects of lengthy hospital stays on older patients, including physical and mental decline and exposure to infections.
"Lengthy stays can also exacerbate loneliness and social isolation," the NSW report said.
"Such stays can also add to pressure on family carers."
