Stroke victim speaks out on 7 News
09/07/2013
Channel 7 News 9/7/2013 [Stroke victim speaks out] (18.01)
A stroke victim left languishing in a hospital bed for six months is speaking out for others still trapped in the system. He’s demanding urgent action, saying red tape is keeping far too many patients apart from their families.
Nine months after a stroke hit him out of the blue Anthony Fox is finding his voice.
(Anthony Fox, Stroke Victim, grab)
Fox: “Poor people stuck there in the system, it’s so wrong. Make it right – now.”
He spent six long months at Hampstead, an hour’s drive from his Hills home.
Fox: “Should’ve been home earlier with my family where I belong, like all the others stuck there still.”
He learnt a valuable lesson.
Fox: “[Unclear] it gets you places. It shouldn’t be that way though.”
Unidentified: “It’s time to get them home and for whatever reason they don’t want to speak up like us.”
When the Foxes went to the media the home care they needed suddenly came through. They asked for 16 hours and ended up with 30.
(Kelly Vincent, Dignity for Disability MP, grab)
Vincent: “People are forced to go to that measure just to get their basic human rights met.”
What baffles the family is that home care is so much cheaper than occupying a hospital bed someone else could use.
Vincent: “The problem is that the Disability and Health Departments simply don’t have the maturity to talk to each other.”
The Health Minister advised Seven News to speak to the Disability Minister who issued a statement saying their two departments are continuing to work together in the interests of clients.
Fox: “You [unclear] how hard it is. Fix the system, for God’s sake.”
