Service rationing limits planning options

[This email from NDS is very encouraging for families who are aiming to avoid Crisis Accommodation decision making for their disabled family member.  The ageing profile and the accommodation needs are, not surprisingly, similar to those we see in Sunnyfield's Member families.]

9 November 2010

This week NDS appeared at a Senate hearing into planning options and services for people ageing with a disability.

To avoid overlap with the Productivity Commission's inquiry into a national disability scheme, the Senate inquiry's terms of reference focus on assistance to people with disability and their carers to plan for the future, rather than on service planning. But in practice the two are inseparable. Carers and people with disability cannot confidently plan for the future unless they have assured access to services and choice about service provision.
Anglicare recently published a study of almost 300 ageing carers who were supporting sons and daughters with severe (mainly intellectual) disability. Two-thirds of the carers were aged over 70 years. Despite expressing anxiety about future care arrangements and recognising the importance of 'transition planning', only one in four carers in the study had any plan for the future care and support of their son or daughter.
In their approach to planning, these carers reflect the limits of the current service system, which is not built around long-term planning but around stretching the capacity of carers to near breaking point and then responding to the impending crisis.
People with disability and their carers need access to a range of services to assist with:

• transition planning, which involves not just being able to organise disability support services, but also access to legal, financial and guardianship advice
• in-home support with personal care and domestic assistance
• respite services for intermittent short-term breaks
• access to long-term accommodation support
• better information about what's available and where to find it.  Navigating the disability services and community care systems is complex.

The Senate Committee also questioned NDS about the dilemma of ageing supported employees, most of whom have no viable retirement options. Three FaHCSIA-funded ADE retirement pilots have now commenced in Victoria, NSW and the ACT, but the lack of retirement options is a national problem which requires a national program. Under the current division of administrative and funding responsibilities, this would entail cooperative effort by Federal and State departments. 
The Senate inquiry is chaired by Rachel Siewert, who will speak at the CEO Meeting on 6-7 December in Canberra.

Contact Information:
Ken Baker, Chief Executive, NDS National, Ph 02 6283 3200, ken.baker@nds.org.au

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