The Summer Foundation has a tenancy matching service to support SDA providers who are developing new properties across the country, as well as housing seekers who believe they may qualify for the SDA funding.
Profile: Liz Ellis
It’s been an exciting couple of months for the Summer Foundation in both the housing and health spheres. We have been busy scaling up practical solutions to the challenges faced by young people with complex support needs in the rollout of the NDIS.
The latest quarterly report from the NDIA included a new set of market data relating to specialist disability accommodation (SDA). It showed that at the end of September 2018, more than 9,500 NDIS participants across Australia had an SDA payment in their NDIS plan and over $90m had been committed in SDA payments. There were 2,200 registered SDA dwellings, and of these, 260 were newly built.
The role of support coordinator is critical to keeping young people out of aged care. As part of our new Support Coordinator Flagship Program, the Summer Foundation is creating a Community of Practice to encourage knowledge sharing and to foster professional connections between support coordinators. We also plan to connect great support coordinators to those in aged care or at risk of entering aged care.
The two winners of the 2018 Allen Martin Scholarships were announced at the Allen Martin Memorial Lecture in November.
Our CEO Luke Bo’sher and policy manager George Taleporos met with Royal Commissioner Lynelle Briggs and her team in November. We are very pleased to report that young people in residential aged care and the issues related to this group are a high and early priority for the Commissioner.
Applications are open for Summer Housing apartments in quality new developments in the Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba and Sydney suburb of Rockdale.
2018’s Annual Public Forum, “From Hospital to Home”, brought together more than 150 hospital discharge professionals, people with lived experience and disability sector professionals to discuss the best ways to support people to return to living in their communities.
In January 2016, Will Cookesley had an accident that resulted in an acquired brain injury. The accident brought his close-knit family even closer, and for the past 2 1/2 years they have worked tirelessly to ensure that Will is able to regain as much independence as possible. Will was initially told it was unlikely he would walk again.
ROYAL COMMISSION UPDATE
In September Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a Royal Commission into Aged Care.
The commission’s interim report is to be provided by 31 October 2019.
You can view the Royal Commission’s Terms of Reference here and read our statement regarding the Terms of Reference here.
We are very pleased that young people in residential aged care and the issues related to this group are a high and early priority for the Royal Commission. You can read our briefing paper about the Royal Commission here.
GETTING INVOLVED
To see how the Summer Foundation can support you or a family member to have your say at the Royal Commission click here.
Or you can contact the Royal Commission at: agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx.
SUMMER FOUNDATION UPDATE – SPRING 2018
Welcome to our Spring update. Looking back over the past few months, it is gratifying to see the positive strides we are taking on a number of issues that contribute to keeping young people out of aged care.
We welcome the recently announced Royal Commission into Aged Care. Our hope is for this Royal Commission to look beyond just making aged care better for young people. The Royal Commission needs to identify the solutions that help young people avoid entering aged care in the first instance. We encourage you to consider responding to the Government’s call for input into the Terms of Reference for this Royal Commission. Timing is tight – find out how to make your contribution here.
Summer Foundation has been focusing on the need for improvements to the health and NDIS interface over the past few months. The hundreds of health professionals and executives across the country who have attended our conferences, seminars and training sessions this year are strongly endorsing this focus.
RAPID HOUSING PROJECT
When someone with complex support needs is ready to leave hospital, a lack of suitable housing often results in them having to stay for longer periods of time in hospital or rehabilitation or they are forced to move to aged care. While this option may be seen as a temporary solution, often people remain there for many months, or end up staying permanently.
The Summer Foundation recently supported Kirsty Martinsen to speak at our Leaving Hospital Well National Symposium. Kirsty spoke about her experiences living with a disability and her hopes for the NDIS and health services to work together. She wrote this postscript:
Our Get Building SDA initiative has been launched in regional NSW.
Get Building SDA aims to increase the number of SDA properties for NDIS participants and, as a result, increase the hours of Supported Independent Living (SIL) delivered in NSW.
In its continuing work to resolve the issue of young people with disability being forced to live in aged care, the Summer Foundation has launched a $1 million research grants program.
We are assessing prospective partners for the high quality research that is needed to find ways to improve the lives of young people in aged care or at risk of entering aged care.
SUMMER FOUNDATION UPDATE – WINTER 2018
Welcome to our 2018 mid-year update. It comes with the latest news from the Summer Foundation and is delivered to you by our new CEO.
In April the Summer Foundation Board announced that I would take on the role of Summer Foundation CEO. I’m incredibly excited for the challenge ahead in continuing Summer Foundation’s work to reduce the number of young people being forced into aged care because there is no where else for them.
Di Winkler, the founder and previous CEO of the Summer Foundation remains very actively involved and you can read about her new focus on research and innovation in this update.
Luke Bo’sher is the new CEO of the Summer Foundation.
Announcing Luke’s move to the role, Summer Foundation founder and former CEO Di Winkler said the appointment had been carefully planned.
Sam Petersen is very worried about how the NDIA’s decisions on SDA might affect her and where she hopes to live.
“The uncertainty over what is essential for me makes me feel like my life has had the pause button put on,” she said.
Evidence shows that there are very positive outcomes for people with disability who want to live alone and have the opportunity to do so. Living alone is not for everyone, but Summer Foundation believes that people with disability should have that same right to live alone as any person without disability.
The Summer Foundation and 20 other organisations issued a joint statement in response to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA)’s SDA Provider and Investor Brief published on 24 April.
The Brief indicated only a “very small number … of a very small percentage” of NDIS participants would be funded to live alone in SDA”.
This is a big concern to people with disability, housing providers and those funding the construction of new disability accommodation. We know that when governments spend more upfront to support people to live independently, the long-term support costs will be lower.
The NDIS is an opportunity to invest more in high quality housing and capacity building upfront. This means more innovative housing models can develop, providing alternatives to group homes for many young people in aged care who may not want to live in a shared housing environment.
The Joint Statement from Summer Foundation and 20 other organisations called for immediate reassurance and said that “certainty is needed on how the SDA market is expected to grow and operate”.
The Australian Government has announced a review of the SDA framework. This is an opportunity to outline what is working well and what needs to improve. You can read the Summer Foundation’s statement on the SDA framework review here
The Summer Foundation is pleased to announce the Allen Martin Research Scholarship 2018, sponsored by The Rotary Club of Kew and Robinson Gill Lawyers.
The majority of younger people admitted to nursing homes come from a hospital setting. Building knowledge and understanding of health and aged care professionals is critical to helping solve the issue.
In the past three months, the Summer Foundation has delivered 40 training sessions – 23 to hospital staff, 12 to Residential Aged Care (RAC) workers and five to Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT).