Tom Symondson: key facts
- Kind of voice
- Sector leader
- Role
- Chief Executive of Ageing Australia
- Quoted on
- Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
- Tracked press citations
- 6
- Most recently quoted
- 30 Sept 2026
“Our view is actually a lot of those people are not ready for discharge to residential care, and we need to be much clearer about how many of these older patients would be able to leave hospital if a bed opened up in residential care.”
What Tom Symondson has said
“This was a rare opportunity for state and federal governments to work together to improve outcomes for the thousands of older Australians stuck in hospital for extended periods, but that opportunity has been missed.”
CEO of Ageing Australia · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 30 Sept 2026 · The $2 billion "missed opportunity" for aged care ↗
“As long as it's the first announcement in a raft of changes, it's great. But if it is the only announcement, then it's a problem.”
Chief Executive Officer of Ageing Australia · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 30 Sept 2026 · Peak welcomes $115m as a first step ↗
“Hospitals are excellent at providing critical emergency care when a person has a fall at home or suffers from a stroke. But they are not a good place for older people to be long-term. We see many people who entered hospital relatively healthy rapidly lose their ability to live independently because of the impacts of being left in bed, loneliness and constant noise and disruption. Every day they are in hospital exponentially increases the risk they will never be able to return home.”
Chief Executive Officer of Ageing Australia · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 30 Sept 2026 · NSW to launch review into delayed discharge ↗
“Last year we were not even able to complete 1,000 of the 10,000 beds we need to build every year just to keep up with demand. Far from encouraging new beds, this decision is likely to see national bed numbers decline, not to mention it will put at risk the significant improvements in care and resident satisfaction we have seen over the past five years.”
Chief Executive Officer of Ageing Australia · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 29 Sept 2026 · Providers shelve plans for 2,000 aged care beds ↗
“Currently, the median wait time is around 10 months which is clearly far too long.”
Chief Executive of Ageing Australia · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 29 Sept 2026 · 'Not dignified': AMA calls for government to fix aged care bed block ↗
Where Tom Symondson has been quoted
- Talks on bed-blocking need to be more ‘grown-up’australianageingagenda.com.au · 30 Sept 2026
- The $2 billion "missed opportunity" for aged caretheweeklysource.com.au · 30 Sept 2026
- Peak welcomes $115m as a first stepaustralianageingagenda.com.au · 30 Sept 2026
- NSW to launch review into delayed dischargeaustralianageingagenda.com.au · 30 Sept 2026
- Providers shelve plans for 2,000 aged care bedsaustralianageingagenda.com.au · 29 Sept 2026
- 'Not dignified': AMA calls for government to fix aged care bed blockthesenior.com.au · 29 Sept 2026
Related media coverage
Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.
Chief executives, directors and spokespeople of trade bodies, representative associations and charities speaking for the sector. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.