In a bid to keep young people with disabilities out of aged care facilities, an organisation in Melbourne has launched a new type of portable house.
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Sitting in attendance at a Royal Commission Community Forum can be an extremely confronting experience, but amongst all the heartbreaking personal accounts of abuse and neglect of elderly people, the one story that affected me the most didn’t actually involve an elderly person at all.
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People with disability in hospital and aged care now able to move home with support from the NDIS.
The Summer Foundation welcomes the decisions made on Friday by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Disability Reform Council for the NDIS to fund a range of disability-related health supports.
This means that the NDIS will now fund essential supports that were previously falling between the cracks of the NDIS and Health system interface.
When these supports were not being funded by the NDIS or health systems, people with disability were stuck in hospital and aged care as the only locations where these supports could be accessed.
The change will deliver a significant difference to the lives of NDIS participants with complex health and disability support needs. It will enable many younger people stuck in aged care or hospitals to return back to their communities.
The Council decided that the NDIS will fund disability-related health supports where the supports result from the NDIS participant’s disability and are a regular part of their daily life. Some examples include respiratory and continence supports, supports to manage epilepsy, pressure wounds, swallowing difficulties, and podiatry.
The Council also agreed to a Hospital Discharge Delay Action Plan that will address NDIS-related issues to promote timely discharge of NDIS participants from public hospitals. People with disabilities who are stuck in hospital are at risk of being forced into aged care facilities because of the lack of timely housing and support options.
The Summer Foundation’s CEO, Luke Bo’sher, commended the Council and the NDIA for these decisions.
“The decision to fund disability-related health supports under the NDIS will go a long way towards addressing major gaps that people with high and complex disabilities are experiencing when trying to access essential supports,” Mr Bo’sher said. “This will enable many more people to maintain their health and live in the community.
“We know that 50 young people with disabilities are admitted into aged care every week. These improvements to the NDIS will help people with disabilities to avoid being forced into aged care facilities because their disability-related health needs will finally be addressed by the NDIS.”
An initiative announced today will help Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) providers understand their obligations in delivering high quality services to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants.
The Specialist Disability Accommodation Quality and Safeguards Education Initiative will see the Summer Foundation develop education resources and deliver training to registered SDA providers.
The initiative will also develop resources to support SDA-funded participants to understand their responsibilities as their own SDA provider, which is an option under the National Disability Insurance Agency’s SDA Framework.
The NDIS is transforming the lives of people with disability, including their housing choices. SDA funding under the NDIS is a radical new approach to ensure that people with disability have housing options that suit their needs. SDA payments to participants help the housing market deliver high quality SDA housing.
But there are important ongoing obligations to being an SDA provider. These are set out by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which will provide safeguards against poor practices by SDA providers, ensuring NDIS participants can enjoy their right to well managed housing and choice and control in their lives.
The initiative will help SDA providers to build their knowledge of the commission’s requirements and obligations and educate SDA provider organisations about the importance of consumer choice in the provision of SDA. The initiative will feature the voices of NDIS participants to illustrate quality and best practice.
The Summer Foundation has developed strong expertise in the developing SDA market, and looks forward to working with NDIS participants and key industry stakeholders to deliver this important education initiative.
The funding for this initiative is part of the national Support for NDIS Providers Program, and is one of 10 grants announced today by the Minister for the NDIS, Stuart Robert, as part of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission’s new four-year $17.6 million investment in building capacity among NDIS providers.
Summer Foundation founder, Dr Di Winkler has been appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division), for significant service to people with a disability.
Young people with disabilities in western Sydney are being offered a rare chance to live independently in a new apartment, rather than in an aged care facility or group home.
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We are pleased to announce two new appointments to the Summer Foundation Board.
With a continued strategic focus on the health sector, the Summer Foundation is pleased that Adam Horsburgh and Professor Andrew Way are joining our Board.
The Summer Foundation’s very own Dr George Taleporos is back with a third series of his popular podcasts – aimed at helping you make sense of the NDIS.
Back by popular demand, Reasonable and Necessary with Dr George: Making Sense of the NDIS is available to listen to on iTunes or SoundCloud. There are five half-hour episodes in this third series, which cover topics such as how the NDIS can work better and how it can support people with complex needs. We also hear some fantastic insights about Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) from industry insiders, as well as a unique Q&A with the NDIA.
The podcasts are about simplifying the NDIS and helping participants, their families and anyone else involved in supporting NDIS participants to be able to work their way through a new and complicated process.
Q&A with the NDIA – featuring Maryanne Diamond AO, General Manager, Community Linkages and Engagement at the National Disability Insurance Agency
Previous episodes of Reasonable and Necessary with Dr George are available here. Full transcripts of each podcast are also available.
Disability groups have welcomed the federal government’s $528 million pledge for the disability royal commission but say a multi-billion dollar underspend of National Disability Insurance Scheme funds in the budget is a “national disgrace”.
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Last Friday (22 March 2019), the Summer Foundation partnered with Youngcare to host the 2019 Get Building SDA National Conference. The conference was attended by more than 400 people, all keen to hear the latest news and insights into Specialist Disability Accommodation.
