Disability advocates lobby against proposed closure of the Centre for Disability Health at Modbury Hospital and Highgate Park
18/11/2015
Disability advocates lobby against proposed closure of the Centre for Disability Health at Modbury Hospital and Highgate Park
November 18, 2015 10:10am
Elizabeth Henson, Leader Messenger
DESPERATE parents in Adelaide’s northeast struggling to cope with disabled children may harm themselves, or their family, if the State Government closes a specialist health service, disability advocates warn.
Health care professionals, parents, Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent and the Opposition are calling on the government to scrap its proposal to shut the Centre for Disability Health in 2016.
The centre has clinics at Modbury Hospital and at Highgate Park, Fullarton.
Centre for Disability Health specialist GP Dr Margaret Kyrkou, who is also a mother of an adult living with disabilities, feared parents would not be able to access timely care in the busy mainstream health system.
“I just worry that some parents are going to find that they can’t get in anywhere and decide to kill themselves or their child, and that’s really frightening to me,” Dr Kyrkou said.
The Department for Communities and Social Inclusion is seeking public feedback on the State Government’s proposal.
Sherallee Andrew, of Golden Grove, whose 28-year-old autistic daughter access services at the Modbury centre, told the Leader Messenger last week people with disabilities would be lost in the system without the service.
“They’ve got nowhere else to go,” she said.
“Mainstream health isn’t there for them; we’ve experienced that.
“These doctors here (at the centre) have the expertise, they have the time and they have the knowledge.”
Intellectual disability nurse specialist Jayne Lehmann, who works at the Modbury centre, said the facility was an “absolute life-changer” for her 21-year-old daughter, who has an intellectual disability and epilepsy.
“It provided us with an opportunity to get comprehensive input from people who understood what we were going through,” she said.
In a letter to clients last week, Disability and Domiciliary Care Services director of service reform Joe Young said the Federal Government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme would change the way disability services were funded and delivered in SA.
“This could include changes to the services provided by the Centre for Disability Health (CDH) at Highgate Park and the North East Clinic at Modbury,” he said.
“In particular, the NDIS will focus on ensuring people with disability connect with and access mainstream healthcare services, as all people within the community do.”
Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent described the potential closure as “an absolute outrage”.
“To shut down the only health clinic in South Australia that treats people who are only able to communicate through their behaviour is a grave mistake,” she said.
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said any move to close the centre was unacceptable.
“South Australians with disability already face grave hurdles to access appropriate support and treatment through mainstream health services,” he said.
Disabilities Minister Tony Piccolo stressed that no decision had been made on the future of the centre.
“We are committed to working with the mainstream healthcare services to ensure that people continue to receive a quality service,” he said.
“It is therefore important that we consult, prior to any decision being made, on how services like this will exist in the future.”
Feedback on the proposal is via [email protected], or by phoning 8415 4373 and is open until November 20, 5pm.
If you are struggling to cope or need support, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14
Please sign Kelly Vincent’s petition calling on the government to stop the closure of the Centre for Disability Health here: http://chn.ge/1Od3gk8
