In 2014, Summer Foundation commenced Connections Projects in the Barwon and Hunter National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) trial sites.
The objectives of the project in Year One were to:
- Visit residential aged care (RAC) facilities in the Victorian and NSW trial sites to find people aged under 65 years
- Provide information on the NDIS, including Scheme registration processes, to the person with disability, their family and / or RAC staff
- Assist with eligibility checking, preparation and application for Scheme registration, pre- planning, planning and implementation processes.
- Feedback information to the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) regarding Scheme practice and process issues, and possible improvements
- Undertake stakeholder engagement to raise awareness of the issue of young people in RAC in the trial sites, and build collaborations to influence change
- Identify opportunities for transition of young people from RAC to more age appropriate living situations.Coupled with this project work, an action research framework was implemented to build an evidence base of Scheme implementation for young people in RAC. The identified purpose was to provide findings in a timely manner to the NDIA to inform and ensure effective full Scheme design for young people in RAC.Sixty-seven people aged under 65 years living in residential aged care were connected within Year One of the project – 35 in the NSW trial site and 32 in the Victorian trial site. Twenty-five percent of the group did not have social support available to them. Of the participants met in Year One, only 25% were known to be connected to state-based disability services and the majority (57%) were not registered for the NDIS at the time of the Connections Officer meeting the person. Just over half had a primary diagnosis of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), followed by neurological disease as second most common, and then a range of other disability types.
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