It costs millions per day for healthy people to lie in hospital beds

Gwen Webb feels like she is wasting away.

After six months in a temporary hospital bed waiting for aged care, the 80-year-old's legs have lost significant muscle mass.

"I can't walk at all," she said.

"I'd like to be able to get to the stage where I can walk from there to there."

There are 3,300 older patients who are medically well yet stuck in hospital beds on aged care waitlists across Australia, according to state and territory data.

There are simply not enough beds in aged care facilities.

Ms Webb waited half a year for one in Townsville.

Other Queenslanders have been waiting for more than 1,000 days.

And experts say the lengthy wait times are making these patients weaker, and likely sicker.

Hopes for a bed

For 10 weeks, Ms Webb shared a room at Townsville University Hospital with other older patients also waiting to go into aged care.

A spinal fracture had limited her ability to roll over in bed and after several weeks Ms Webb found her legs had become so weak they could no longer hold her up.

She took several voluntary physiotherapy sessions in hospital but was unable to keep them up after being moved to interim care at a Townsville aged care home.

Though a gym and physiotherapist were down the hallway from her interim care room, Ms Webb said she was not offered access to their support.

"You can only use the gym if you're a permanent resident," Ms Webb said.

There are more than 400 healthy patients under Queensland Health's interim care, which are temporary beds outside of hospital, including residential aged care homes.

A further 787 are yet to leave hospital.

Townsville Hospital chief executive Kieran Keyes said interim care patients were provided with support services including physiotherapy and occupational therapy as "clinically required".

Christina Wyatt from Occupational Therapy Australia said the risk of preventable conditions involving the loss of muscle was significantly increased during long hospital stays.

Scientific researchers estimate older patients lose as much as 10 per cent of their muscle mass for each week they spend under hospital care.

"The longer they stay there, the higher the chances are that their demand for care and their needs are going to grow significantly," Ms Wyatt said.

"Once you get to that point, it's very difficult to come back."

A Queensland Health spokesperson said support services varied across hospitals and were based on regional demand and "resource availability".

Calls for more care

According to department figures, stranded aged care patients cost the public health system more than $3.3 million every day.

"Older people should be in dedicated facilities that feel much more like a home," Townsville Hospital and Health Service allied health executive Danielle Hornsby said.

Queensland Health said the issue needed to be addressed by the federal government.

The federal health department did not provide a comment.

In April, the Commonwealth announced it would fund 5,000 new aged care beds per year from 2029 for people with limited financial means, but no timeline has been set for their delivery.

A cheaper solution

Aged and Disability Advocacy CEO Geoff Rowe believes helping these patients get support in their own homes is a cheaper and more effective solution.

He said Queensland had a higher proportion of people waiting for aged care than other states.

"Building new aged care beds is a very slow and expensive way of improving the system," he said.

"We need to spend our money on preventative services to support people to live at home and be independent.

"It's complex, but it's not unresolvable."