

Perth 7th May 2026
Aloft Perth
8.30am - 4.30pm
Networking till 6.00pm
Melbourne 2nd and 3rd July 2026
RACV Melbourne, Bourke St
9.30am - 5.00pm
Networking till 6.30pm
If you are an NDIS, SIL or SDA Provider join us for the NDISDA and SILSDA Conferences in Perth and Melbourne the same week as the Hospital to Home Summit
Save when you book more days
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Early Bird is open
For 2026 NDISDA other events see here

About the National Hospital-to-Home Summit
NDISDA SDA Housing and Disability & Impact Housing's 2026 Hospital-to-Home National Leadership Summit brings together the nation’s health, disability, aged care, mental health, housing, and policy leaders at a moment of unprecedented system pressure.
The 2 -day Melbourne Summit forms the flagship national forum within a broader national series, designed to confront the growing crisis in hospital discharge, long-stay patients, and system gridlock across Australia.
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With delayed discharges now affecting acute capacity, emergency department flow, elective surgery, ambulance ramping, workforce wellbeing, and patient dignity, the Hospital-to-Home challenge is no longer isolated to any one sector or jurisdiction. It is a national systems issue requiring coordinated, cross-sector solutions.
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This Summit has been deliberately designed to move beyond problem-definition and into shared understanding, practical strategy, and collective action.
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Why this Summit matters – And why attendance is critical
By 2026, Australia’s hospitals are operating at – and in many cases beyond – safe capacity.
Thousands of Australians remain in hospital beds despite being medically ready for discharge, not because of clinical need, but because appropriate housing, aged care, disability supports, mental health accommodation, or community-based services are unavailable, delayed, or misaligned.
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These challenges are not confined to one jurisdiction.
While policies, funding mechanisms, and service models differ between states and territories, the underlying pressures are shared nationally:
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Fragmented funding responsibilities between health, aged care, disability, housing, and mental health systems
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Workforce shortages across hospitals, aged care, allied health, and community services
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Insufficient availability of transitional, step-down, supported, and accessible housing
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Increasing complexity of patient needs, including ageing, disability, psychosocial support, bariatric care, and comorbidities
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Policy reform timelines that are not aligned with operational realities on hospital wards
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The result is a system where hospitals are increasingly functioning as default long-term accommodation settings - an outcome that is costly, inefficient, unsafe, and deeply distressing for patients, families, and staff.
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This Summit is critical because it brings all parts of the system into the same room.
It creates a rare national space where hospitals, aged care providers, NDIS and disability services, housing organisations, mental health leaders, policymakers, and funders can engage in honest, solutions-focused dialogue about shared responsibility, system reform, and practical pathways forward.
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A National Summit with a National lens
Although the Melbourne Summit spans 2 full days, its scope is intentionally national.
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Delegates are invited from across Australia, recognising that:
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No single state can solve hospital discharge challenges in isolation
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Innovations emerging in one jurisdiction can inform scalable solutions elsewhere
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National reforms – including public hospital funding negotiations, NDIS settings, and the 2026 Support at Home program – require shared understanding and coordinated implementation
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The Perth Summit on 7 May 2026 complements the Melbourne event by grounding national discussions in jurisdiction-specific experience, ensuring Western Australia’s unique operational and geographic realities inform the broader national conversation.
Together, these events form a connected national platform to examine hospital-to-home challenges from policy, operational, workforce, housing, and lived-experience perspectives.
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What to expect over 2 Days in Melbourne
Day 1 – Hospital to Home Across Disability, Mental Health, and Complex Needs
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Day 1 focuses on the growing discharge pressures linked to disability, mental health, supported accommodation, and complex care pathways.
The day opens with a national policy lens, examining how the late-2025 impasse in public hospital funding negotiations has exposed deeper structural weaknesses in Australia’s hospital discharge systems.
Delegates will gain a clear understanding of how funding fragmentation between Commonwealth and state responsibilities directly translates into bed block, discharge delays, and inefficiencies on the ground.
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From there, Day 1 explores:
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Mental health accommodation shortages and innovative models that support earlier, safer discharge
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Peer-led, lived-experience approaches that reduce readmissions and strengthen recovery
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Patient, caregiver, and workforce perspectives on discharge breakdowns, communication failures, and system pressure
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Cross-jurisdictional comparisons highlighting what works – and what doesn’t – in hospital discharge policy and practice
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The “revolving door” phenomenon driven by SDA funding delays, plan changes, and unstable housing pathways
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Bariatric care transitions and the urgent need for accessible, purpose-built housing and coordinated allied health support
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Throughout Day 1, the emphasis is on integration: how hospitals, NDIS planners, disability providers, housing developers, mental health services, and community supports can align earlier and more effectively to prevent prolonged hospitalisation and repeat admissions.
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Day 2 – Hospital to Home and Aged Care: Restoring Flow, Dignity, and Sustainability
Day 2 delivers a dedicated, in-depth focus on aged care and hospital discharge – an issue that sits at the centre of Australia’s current hospital capacity crisis.
As demand for aged care grows and workforce constraints intensify, hospitals are increasingly accommodating older Australians long after acute care has concluded.
This day examines the operational, policy, and human consequences of that reality – and, critically, what can be done differently.
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Delegates will explore:
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National system pressures driving long-stay patients and aged care discharge failures
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Jurisdictional case studies from Queensland, Western Australia, and Victoria
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Transitional care, step-down models, and sub-acute solutions that restore hospital capacity
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Digital innovations improving information sharing, discharge safety, and continuity of care
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Safer medicines management during transitions between hospital, aged care, and home
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Preventative and community-based approaches that reduce avoidable hospital admissions
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The 2026 Support at Home reforms and their implications for discharge planning and integrated care
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Day 2 places strong emphasis on implementation – ensuring delegates leave with practical tools, transferable models, and actionable strategies that can be applied within their own organisations and regions.
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The Challenges that this Summit directly addresses
Across both days, the Summit tackles the most pressing hospital-to-home challenges facing Australia in 2026, including:
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Long-stay patients occupying acute hospital beds due to lack of suitable discharge destinations
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Misaligned funding, governance, and accountability across health, aged care, disability, and housing systems
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Workforce shortages limiting both hospital throughput and community-based care capacity
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Housing supply gaps, including SDA, SIL, transitional, step-down, and aged care placements
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Poor communication and coordination between hospitals and downstream services
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Rising system costs alongside declining patient and workforce experience
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These challenges are examined honestly, using evidence, case studies, and lived experience to move beyond theory and into applied solutions.
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What the Summit aims to achieve:
The Hospital-to-Home Summit 2026 is designed to achieve more than awareness.
By the conclusion of the Melbourne Summit, delegates will:
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Share a national understanding of hospital-to-home pressures and their root causes
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Identify practical, scalable solutions that improve discharge flow and patient outcomes
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Build cross-sector relationships that support collaboration beyond the event
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Understand how upcoming reforms – including Support at Home – can be leveraged rather than feared
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Leave equipped to influence policy, operational practice, and service design within their own systems
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Most importantly, the Summit seeks to foster a collective responsibility mindset – recognising that hospitals cannot fix hospital discharge alone, and that sustainable solutions depend on genuine partnership across health, aged care, disability, housing, and community sectors.
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A National Invitation
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This is not a state-based conversation.
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This is not a single-sector event.
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This is not a theoretical forum.
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Australia’s Hospital-to-Home Summit 2026 is a national call to action.
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Whether you work in a metropolitan hospital, a regional health service, aged care, disability support, housing development, policy, commissioning, or frontline care - your role intersects with hospital discharge outcomes.
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By coming together in Melbourne in July, and Perth in May, we create the space to think differently, act collectively, and design pathways that are safer, fairer, and more sustainable for patients, families, and the workforce.
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Hospital to Home is everyone’s responsibility. This Summit is where that responsibility becomes shared action.

About Impact Housing National Strategic Alliance
The Impact Housing National Strategic Alliance is a human services–focused, multi-disciplinary network committed to driving sustainable, high-impact housing and support solutions for vulnerable populations across Australia.
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As a dynamic platform for collaboration, advocacy, and action, the Alliance brings together all key stakeholders—including hospital executives, developers, builders, investors, researchers, universities, government departments, Partner Health2Ageducate for aged care, NDISDA, and community service providers - to bridge gaps across the housing, disability, aged care, and mental health sectors.
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Our work focuses on seamless hospital-to-home transitions and ensuring continuity of care, addressing the urgent and diverse needs of people requiring support, including crisis accommodation, people with disabilities, Specialist Disability Accommodation Participants, people experiencing mental health challenges, youth, seniors, Indigenous communities, and women over 50 at risk of homelessness.
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We take a whole-of-sector approach, supporting design for occupancy, sustainable investment aligned with ESG principles, and effective communication channels with builders, developers, and government departments to facilitate coordinated solutions.
This includes liaising with housing and social services, aged care in-home supports, NDIS and SDA providers, and crisis accommodation networks to ensure that housing and support pathways are efficient, integrated, and person-centred.
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Through education, industry updates, research, and fostering cross-sector connections, the Alliance empowers stakeholders to navigate complex challenges, including SDA vacancies, hospital discharge delays, and rising demand for integrated housing and support services.
By facilitating multi-disciplinary collaboration, sharing best practices, and connecting organisations across sectors, we enable the development and implementation of holistic, human services–driven housing solutions that improve outcomes for Australians with diverse and complex needs.
