Dr Gordon Reid, centre, with attendees at the recent Parliamentary Friends of Emergency Medicine and Care luncheon.

21 October 2026

 

THE Parliamentary Friends group provides an important forum to bring together parliamentarians, clinicians and stakeholders to strengthen the conversation about emergency medicine and the delivery of emergency care across Australia.

The new ACEM report highlights the growing pressures an ageing population is placing on emergency departments and the broader health system.

 

In 2023–24, almost nine million people presented to emergency departments across Australia, with around one quarter aged over 65. Among older patients, more than half arrived by ambulance, nearly seven in ten were triaged as requiring more urgent care, and half were admitted to hospital.

 

The report also found that 53,510 older Australians spent more than 24 hours in an emergency department awaiting a hospital bed in 2023–24, compared with 15,084 in 2018–19. Only 54 per cent of older patients requiring admission left the emergency department within eight hours, compared with 71 per cent of younger patients.

 

Dr Reid said his experience working as an emergency doctor had given him a firsthand understanding of the pressures facing patients, their families and healthcare workers.

 

“I have the privilege of caring for patients in emergency departments, and I know just how important timely, compassionate and high-quality emergency care is.”

 

“Emergency departments are there for Australians at some of the most difficult and frightening moments in their lives. We need to ensure our health system continues to evolve to meet the needs of an ageing population.”

 

“The Parliamentary Friends of Emergency Medicine and Care creates an important opportunity for parliamentarians to listen directly to emergency clinicians, patients and other healthcare stakeholders about the challenges being experienced across our health system.”

 

“ACEM’s State of Emergency report is an important contribution to that conversation. Its findings demonstrate that the challenges facing emergency departments cannot be looked at in isolation. What happens in primary care, aged care, hospitals and community health services ultimately affects what happens at the emergency department door.”

 

ACEM’s report recommends strengthening alternative pathways to acute medical care for older Australians, improving patient flow and reducing access block, expanding prevention and early-intervention measures, and funding research into models of primary and acute care that improve outcomes for older people.

 

Dr Reid said the Parliamentary Friends group would help keep emergency medicine and patient care firmly on the national agenda.

“As both a parliamentarian and an emergency doctor, I am incredibly proud to chair this Parliamentary Friends group.”

 

“Our focus must always be on patients: ensuring people can receive the right care, in the right place and at the right time, while supporting the doctors, nurses, paramedics and other healthcare professionals who care for them every day.”

 

“I look forward to working across the Parliament and with ACEM, clinicians and healthcare organisations to continue the conversation about how we build a stronger, more connected health system for the future.”

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