Welcome to our spring update. It has been an exciting time for us with the Aged Care Royal Commission hearings in Melbourne focused on young people in aged care.
The Royal Commission is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address this issue and we have pulled out all stops to ensure the commissioners hear from young people in aged care and their families. The Summer Foundation also made our own extensive submission.
In support of our submission, I appeared at the hearing, which focused on constructive solutions to solve the issue of young people in aged care. We recommended to the Royal Commission that a target is set to stop all admissions of younger people into aged care by 2022 – except in extreme, exceptional circumstances.
At the moment, aged care experts decide whether to place a younger person with disability in aged care. We said that this isn’t right – people who better understand the disability housing options for a younger person should help them decide.
We also talked about the need to invest in expert support to navigate complex disability, health and housing systems; immediate housing options; and community-based rehab.
Finally, we also need to make sure that alternatives to aged care are good ones – we don’t want to replace institutional aged care with institutional disability housing!
You can read more about the Aged Care Royal Commission in this update as well the latest on our major projects, including the outstanding success of our Rapid Interim Housing prototype.
The next big thing on our agenda is the Annual Public Forum on October 31. I hope to see you there.
Luke Bo’sher
CEO