Kelly Vincent – 5RPH Interview on Transforming Health and the NDIS trial in South Australia
26/06/2015
On 26th June 2015 Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent was interviewed on radio station RPH to discuss the Transforming Health process and how the National Disability Insurance Scheme is interacting with South Australia’s health system. Here is the audio and transcript of that interview.
Richard Morgan: Time to welcome to 5RPH, Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent. Hi Kelly
Kelly Vincent: Hi Richard
Richard Morgan: Kelly you’ve spoken a bit on the issue of the transforming health process and some significant problems with it, are there any new measures in the state budget announced last week that you’re concerned about?
Kelly Vincent: Well unfortunately there are Richard. As you know Dignity for Disability has been very concerned about the way the entire transforming health project has been undertaken in terms of the lack of consultation and information sharing with the community. And if that weren’t bad enough we now have some very concerning and large cuts in the health budget to health staffing. The Government, the Premier, Treasurer and the Health Minister are saying as I understand it that these cuts to staffing won’t affect frontline staff, so that’s nurses, doctors, etc. but that of course leaves the question of which staff are going to be cut. So Dignity for Disability is very concerned that staff, for example in charge of organising exits from hospital transitioned back to home and the community after leaving hospital might end up being cut. Doctors already complained to my office about the lack of coordination between the health and other government departments such as housing and disability to effectively and in a timely manner get people out of hospital once they’ve recovered and back to the community. So we’re very suspicious about these cuts and are hoping that it won’t result in even further problems from the transition from hospital to the community.
Richard Morgan: I understand also you met with the National Disability Insurance Agency yesterday, how’s the trial site here in South Australia interacting with our health system?
Kelly Vincent: Well I think there are also some big concerns that Dignity for Disability has there in light of the announced cuts to health in the budget that we just talked about. I already hear from my meeting with the NDIA that we have children with disabilities using the health system who are basically being told that once they are on a National Disability Insurance Scheme plan, the NDIS, not the health system, will fund their health care related needs. And this is simply not the case, the NDIS was only ever envisioned to meet peoples’ core disability related needs. It was never meant to interact directly with the health care system, the education system, and so on. And so there seems to be some worrying misinformation going on there. And I think the other thing that we have to remember is that people with disabilities can just have health issues as well but don’t have to have disability in their label; we can just get colds or flus and other issues as well with the passage of time. So we still have the right to access the health care system as tax payers without bureaucracy telling us that oh no, just because you have a disability, the disability scheme will take care of your needs. We still have the right and the need to access the health care system. So I think it’s clear that Health SA really do need to spend significant resources insuring that there is a smooth transition for families between the NDIS and health system and that the National Disability Insurance Agency also needs to make sure they’re spreading, clear, concise and simple, easy to understand information about the role of the NDIS and where it crosses over between other departments and where it doesn’t as well so that individuals and families are clear about their rights and responsibilities in that area.
Richard Morgan: Finally Kelly, I understand that you are holding a film night this Friday at Wallis Cinema’s Mitcham and you’ve got a ticket give away for us tonight. What’s the film called and some details on the screening?
Kelly Vincent: That’s right, we are holding a fundraising screening of the new Disney Pixar film Inside Out which is a film about a young girl learning to cope with and live with her emotions as she adjusts to life in a new town. So it’s a new, looks like a very fun, family friendly film from Pixar so we’d love it if people could join us. The details are that it’s coming up this Friday, the 26th June, 6pm for 6.30 start of the screening. And that’s happening at the Wallis Cinemas in Mitcham, in the Mitcham shopping centre which is wheelchair accessible and captions will be available for this screening as well. Tickets range from $15 concession to $20 for a full ticket price and you also have the option to buy some raffle tickets with your movie tickets as well. So you can book your tickets on the events page of the Dignity for Disability website which is d4d.org.au or you can also call up and leave a message and we’d be happy to give away some tickets as well. So I’m told if a person calls RPH on 8234 1197 at the end of this interview and leave us a message then RPH will get back to the winner the following morning. So we’ll need the full name and contact details and certainly even if you don’t win the tickets we hope to see everyone there on Friday night.
Richard Morgan: Ok, that’s 8234 1197 ring up, leave a message including your phone number so we can get back to the winner tomorrow morning and we’ll pass the details on to you at Dignity for Disability
Kelly Vincent: That’s the way
Richard Morgan: Kelly, thanks for talking with us tonight
Kelly Vincent: That’s a pleasure, thanks Richard
Richard Morgan: Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent
