Welcome to our Winter 2022 Update
Source: The Guardian – Luke Henriques-Gomes | Photo: Christopher Hopkins
A Melbourne woman with cerebral palsy is fighting to stay in her home just a year after moving in because the agency running the national disability insurance scheme has decided her funding is no longer “value for money”.
Source: The Guardian – Luke Henriques-Gomes | Photo: Christopher Hopkins
Government data shows 1,140 participants are stuck in hospital waiting for housing funding or other support before they can be released.
Source: The Age – Jewel Topsfield | Photo: Joe Armao
The state government has revealed that more than 200 Victorians with a disability were stuck in hospital for an average of 160 days after they were well enough to be discharged, and blamed the hold-up on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
In 2021 the Summer Foundation held a series of workshops and interviews with on-site support providers, specialist disability accommodation (SDA) providers, and tenants living in SDA apartments. Preliminary findings from the workshops were published in May 2022, and the main findings were that there is scope for service redesign and innovation to improve the quality and efficiency of support.
This discussion paper draws on the evidence provided by a series of workshops and interviews with on-site support providers, specialist disability accommodation (SDA) providers, and tenants living in SDA apartments.
It documents the perspectives of tenants, SDA providers and OSS providers on co-located single occupancy SDA. It looks at the key challenges and benefits, and identifies potential solutions to improve the consistency, quality and cost effectiveness of the disability supports delivered to tenants living in these dwellings.
We are seeking input from support providers for improving the preliminary report and recommendations. Please contact research@summerfoundation.org.au by 30 June 2022.
Source: ABC News – Elizabeth Wright & Alison Branley | Photo: Chris Le Page
Alicia Appleby is 38 years old but she’s been living in a geriatric ward in a Melbourne hospital for more than 260 days.
Ms Appleby has had two strokes, has a mild intellectual disability and needs constant care.
Source: Probono – Di Winkler & Peter Mulherin
Australia has over 3,400 younger people living in aged care, due to a lack of timely funding for viable alternatives. Younger people living in aged care lose skills, social connection and hope. The federal government has committed to getting them out – but its targets will be difficult to achieve.
Source: The Conversation – Di Winkler & Jacinta Douglas
The federal government has been warning that the rising cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is unsustainable. More than a third of NDIS funding is spent on in-house support provided to 5% of NDIS participants with the highest needs.
Source: The Age – Jewel Topsfield | Photo: Jamila Toderas
Connor Brookhouse didn’t want to live in a group disability home. So he appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and won.
Dr George Taleporos is back with a new episode of Reasonable & Necessary, where he meets NDIS participant Leila Bowheen who has been stuck in hospital for almost a year, waiting for housing and support. We also talk to Adam Horsburgh, CEO at the Austin Hospital for his take on the problem and how it can be solved.
Why are so many people stuck in hospital waiting for NDIS decisions?
You can download and listen to the audio version on SoundCloud, iTunes (Apple Podcasts) or Spotify.
Source: LinkedIn – Di Winkler
We are pleased to announce the new chair of Summer Foundation, Chris Leptos AM as Chairman Elect for the Summer Foundation. Chris is an experienced Director with a wealth of international corporate roles. His experience in the housing sector combined with his work advising state and federal governments provides him with unique qualifications to take up the role of Summer Foundation Chairman. Chris has a strong interest in social impact and systems change, and shares the fundamental belief of Summer Foundation that young people in residential aged care (YPIRAC) is a solvable issue.
Source: Disability Support Guide – Anna Christian
The Federal Budget is due to be delivered tomorrow night and many people with disability could benefit from funding if advocates’ demands are met.
Critical to successfully resolving the issue of Young People in Residential Aged Care is streamlining NDIS processes for funding housing and support until they become as responsive as the aged care system.
In the lead-up to the federal election, the Summer Foundation is working with an alliance of people with disability, advocacy organisations and the housing, health and disability sectors to campaign for timely NDIS funding for housing and support.
Source: Disability Support Guide – Anna Christian
Thousands of people with disability are waiting far too long for approval for the housing they need, causing stress and impacting their health, the members of a new campaign say.
The Down to 10 Days campaign launched this week and aims to have the wait of up to 18 months for housing approval under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) cut to ten days to protect the health and wellbeing of people with disability.
The Canberra Times – Dan Jervis-Bardy (Picture: Elesa Kurtz)
The Morrison government is under pressure to end the bureaucratic delays being blamed for confining NDIS participants to hospital beds or forcing them into aged care homes.
A coalition of housing, health and disability groups has launched a pre-election campaign calling on the National Disability Insurance Agency to dramatically speed up decisions about funding for supported accommodation.
Source: The Canberra Times – Dan Jervis-Bardy
The pre-election federal budget should include an extra $50 million to help get NDIS participants out of hospital and into suitable housing, according to a leading advocacy group.
The Summer Foundation has made the request as disability-supported homes sit vacant across Australia, including in Canberra, while hospital-bound participants are unable to move into them amid delays processing paperwork and approving funding.
In this episode of Reasonable & Necessary, George is speaking with Therese Clark from Barwon Health to find out how people with disability (PWD) can access free rapid antigen tests (RAT) through the Victorian Government Disability Liaison Officer service.
Source: Aged Care News – Bianca Roberts
On the surface, there has been progress.
According to a new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) titled Younger people in residential aged care, the number of Australians aged under 65 living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) fell by 20 per cent from almost 4600 in September 2020 to around 3700 in September 2021.
Source: Disability Support Guide – Anna Christian
A newly released report shows the Government is still short of its target to have no one younger than 45 living in nursing homes, and no one younger than 65 entering aged care homes, by 2022.
The Summer Foundation’s Information Service and Lived Experience Advisor, Emma Gee, chats with one of the organisation’s Lived Experience Facilitators, Shanais Nielsen, about the best ways to plan, navigate, stay positive and up-to-date in this COVID world.
Source: ABC News | Author: Nas Campanella
Almost 4,000 young Australians with disability live in aged care too, and advocates say a broken system is preventing any progress on finding them somewhere else to live.
They’re hoping new tools to support people to make the transition will help to avoid a life of isolation.
[button icon=”fa-laptop” text=”Listen online ” link=”https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/people-with-disability-break-free-from-aged-care/13705274″][/button]
Welcome to our last edition for 2021. We celebrate the significant amount of critical work that has been done toward ending the need for younger people with disability to live in aged care; in what have been challenging circumstances over this past year. As we open up and resume face-to-face engagement, we look forward to also carrying over the benefits and efficiencies we’ve honed over the past almost 2 years of working with COVID-19 disruptions.
The Summer Foundation was the proud promoter behind the Million Dollar Vax competition that received over 2.7 million entries in October. The aim was to increase the rate of vaccination nationally to reduce the burden on our healthcare systems and reduce the risk of infection to the most vulnerable in our community including people with disability. The campaign targeted regions with low vaccination rates.
The Summer Foundation is pleased to support the Australian Disability Strategy 2021-2031. The Strategy, launched today on the Disability Gateway, prioritises the commitment to improve the lives of people with disability by all governments – Australian, state, territory and local.
Today is United Nations International Day of People with Disabilities. Today promotes understanding of disability issues and supports the dignity, rights and wellbeing of people with disability now and in the future. The theme of today is, “leadership and participation of persons with disabilities towards an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-Covid-19-world”.
Minister for Families and Social Services, Anne Ruston said ‘People with disability deserve to have the same as any other person and this ten year framework sets out our priorities as a nation for the 4.4 million Australians who live with disability’. The Australian Government is supporting the Australian Disability Strategy with an investment of $250 million.
The Strategy aims to improve the lives of people with disability across 6 priority outcome areas.
- Employment and financial security
- Inclusive homes and communities
- Safety, rights and justice
- Personal and community support
- Health and wellbeing
- Community attitudes
The Summer Foundation focuses on supporting people with disability with complex support needs and works to ensure no younger person under the age of 65 is forced to live in aged care. The Australian Disability Strategy aims to increase the availability of affordable housing, ensure housing is accessible and that people with disability have choice and control about where they live, who they live with and how they live. Additionally, that people with disability can access the supports they need to live well, delivered in a way which best meets their individual needs.
The rights of people with disability must be promoted upheld and protected. We are pleased to see this as a central principal of the Australian Disability Strategy.
The Strategy re-establishes Australia’s commitment to people with disability and provides the vision for an inclusive Australian society that ensures people with disability can fulfil their potential, as equal members of the community.
The Summer Foundation would like to see the implementation of the Strategy drive opportunities for people with disability, to lead and direct the achievement of outcomes, and play a significant role in shaping the success of the Strategy. The Strategy endeavours to facilitate greater community participation for people with disability and provide the opportunity to ensure they can decide how they live their lives. It is important that adequate funding continues to be provided to support the achievement of the Strategy over the next 10 years.
More than 330 people logged in to our 10th Annual Public Forum on 4 November. Reaching Towards Success – Closing the door to aged care for young people discussed the progress being made to end the need for younger people to live in aged care, as well as the barriers that remain.