Housing issue for patient at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre with the ABC
02/10/2013
Tony Piccolo, Disabilities Minister (891ABC 8.48-8.54) Housing issue for patient at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre
(Bevan: Yesterday we were talking to Paul Barbaro, now he’s an advocate for people with disabilities and he surfaces every now and then, when there’s a particular issue we hear about it and we try and pass it on to you and yesterday he was telling us about a chap by the name of Kym, now he suffered a severe accident; he went to the Royal Adelaide, he ended up at Hampstead and was spending way too much time at Hampstead, that was the suggestion, that there was accommodation ready for him out into the community, if only a carer could be found.)
(Abraham: Ninety five weeks he’s had in our hospital system. Now much of that was needed but that was a combination of the Royal Adelaide and then 50 weeks in the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre and he’s been discharge-ready since November 7 last year, and a house was identified as vacant for him in May this year, so 20 weeks ago. He is causing problems to himself now because there’s a danger he’s institutionalised. In a moment, Kelly Vincent … but Tony Piccolo … good morning … have you had a look at Kym’s case and if so can you get him out of there?)
Yeah, I’ve got Kym’s letter from his advocate – it only arrived last night – on my desk and I obviously sought advice from my agency where this issue’s at and you’re quite correct, there is a house available and our agency has been working with Kym’s family since May as indicated and Kym requires 24 hours’ care every day and so what we’ve been trying to do is trying to find an appropriate person to share a house with in a similar situation so we can actually accommodate two people just to make sure that the dollar goes further and we can actually reach as many people as possible.
(Bevan: But while you’re waiting for that – and I can see the economics of what you’re saying – is the house that’s been set aside for him vacant?)
There’s been a number of houses identified, one of the issues is also ensuring that the house is correct for the people who need the house, for example, some houses often are found and the family – for whatever reason – may reject that offer. It is the situation, my understanding, the house has been found. It’s not an issue of money because the funding has been made available and a service provider has been found. We were hoping to find a person to share with him, just like any other sharing arrangement, you need to find the right personalities, the right situation, we haven’t been able to do that so the agency’s made a decision now just to go ahead and hopefully find a person to share [unclear]
(Bevan: Fingers crossed, is it?)
No, no, he’ll be accommodated then we’ll go looking for another person who can share with him to– obviously this person will need 24/7 care, that means somebody will be with him all the time and we’d like to share that cost over two people if we can. (Bevan: OK and how soon before you think you can get him into that house?) My understanding – there should be no reason why you can’t do it as soon as the house is physically ready for him. (Bevan: OK.)
Kelly Vincent, Dignity for Disability MLC (891ABC 8.51-8.53) Housing issue for patient at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre
(Bevan: …Kelly Vincent… is this a one-off case?)
Certainly not. As you’re probably well aware … my office is aware of at least, I believe, three other cases of people in a similar situation being stuck in rehabilitation centres and hospital beds because the Government is unable to find the support they need to go home to their families and communities and this is simply ridiculous – all that needs to happen in many of these cases is for the two Departments – Disability and Health – to sit down, and Heaven forbid, talk to each other so that they can find a solution working together and find that solution in a timely manner rather than waiting for people to get stuck.
(Abraham: I thought this was what the David Cappo strategy was meant to be about.)
So did I.
(Abraham: And that was people not falling through the net when agencies aren’t talking to each other?) [unclear]
Back to Tony Piccolo
(Abraham: Tony Piccolo … we were told that this sort of thing, where agencies don’t really click and people like Kym are left just wandering the wards, disrupting things now, becoming institutionalised because they’ve been there so long, this wasn’t meant to happen any more.)
You raised this matter with me early in my time as Minister – and I gave you a commitment to look at that and I have done that – we have improved the situation, the number of people in the situation has reduced significantly, I’m not going to suggest that we’ve resolved it completely but we are working closely with Health and Health with us and that’s why we’ve been able to make some inroads in this area but having said that we’ve got a way to go and I acknowledge that but it’s certainly – in terms of people in the situation – is on the downward trend.
(Abraham: …thank you.)
