Source: Consumer's Health Forum

Consumers shaping health in Australia

Media Release
Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia
6 July 2005

Too many young Australians live in aged care homes

More than 10 000 young people will live in aged care homes by 2007 if nothing is done, according to an article in the latest issue of The Australian Health Consumer.

"Almost without exception, most of the 6300 young disabled Australians living in residential aged care are individuals with acquired disabilities who do not fit the definitions or protocols of the existing disability system. There is nowhere else for them to go," author Dr Bronwyn Morkham said.

Dr Morkham is the National Director of the Young People in Nursing Homes (YPINH) National Project coordinated by the National Alliance of Young People in Nursing Homes.

"Young people with complex support needs are falling through the cracks in the system and end up in aged care facilities that were never designed to support them, are not funded to do so, and lack staff trained in the different support needs of the acquired disabilities these young people have," Dr Morkham said.

"Because the Commonwealth has responsibility for aged care and the States, under the Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement, have responsibility for disability, young people who end up in residential aged care literally exist in no man’s land."

These young people have a range of acquired brain injury or acquired disabilities from catastrophic events such as motor vehicle accidents, falling from a ladder or diving into a swimming pool; unpredictable health events such as asthma or hypoglycaemic attacks that cause them to stop breathing for a time, leaving them with hypoxic brain injuries; or degenerative neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease or Muscular Dystrophy.

There are two key factors to providing solutions according to Dr Morkham. The first is the political will to solve this problem. The second is the establishment of a dedicated funding program so that accommodation and support services can be developed that meet the individual needs of each young person.

"We already have community-based supported accommodation options that have successfully brought young people in nursing homes out of aged care and back to live in the community. We simply need more of these options that enable young people and their families to have a choice about where they live and how they are supported," Dr Morkham said.

The Alliance has developed a Blueprint for Change, and is calling for a YPINH Taskforce, jointly owned and funded by the Commonwealth and States that will develop the pathways out of aged care that young people and their families want.

The Alliance believes that a dedicated taskforce jointly owned and run by the Commonwealth and the States can offer 700 YPINH the option of community-based supported accommodation per year, and will achieve significant change because of its size, impact and mandate.

The Australian Health Consumer is the journal of the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia (CHF).

For further information contact
For author interview contact Dr Bronwyn Morkham on 0437 178 078
For information on CHF contact Helen Hopkins, Executive Director on 0412 065 957

Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia
PO Box 3099 Manuka ACT 2603
T: 02 6273 5444
www.chf.org.au
ABN 59 369 286 13