Ivan Dean, Speeches Index

Wednesday 15 June 2011

DISABILITY SERVICES BILL 2011

Mr DEAN ( Windermere ) - Madam Deputy President, I support the bill. I appreciate the briefing that we had this morning and I appreciate the answering of the questions that were asked and the information that came back in as a result of that process. It certainly covered a number of my areas. There is the one area I raised this morning in that briefing and I am not quite sure where we have gone with that. No doubt the Leader may address that in his final summing-up.

When you look at this bill, and the second reading speech spells it out quite well, the bill provides for the funding of special disability services and related research and development activities and establishes a requirement that all services provided under this bill will respect the inherent dignity of people with disability along with their individual autonomy, freedom to make their own choices and their right to independence.

That is a critical part of this because that is going to lead me into a personal matter that I have been involved in, along with the member for Rosevears and the member for Launceston in our area. This matter was brought to our attention very recently and it was brought to us by a distraught mother who is now going to have a huge burden placed on her and her family.

What I want to do to identify the predicament of where we are with disability services in this State is to read an e-mail that was sent to us by the mother of a young lad who is now in a terrible situation in regards to a disability that he has now got through an injury. The family - and I have the right to use their name and I will do that - Janine Davis is a hardworking mother of a child in Launceston. Her son was involved in an accident on the east coast whilst he was, I think, body surfing. I will read the contents of the letter to you:

'June 4, 2011.

Dear Ivan,' -

and the same went to the member for Rosevears and to the member for Launceston -

'After attending a meeting with Pam Hesketh, (Launceston General Hospital's Clinical Nurse Consultant, Spinal: Continence Northern Tasmania Spinal and Continence Support Service) earlier this week, at the Launceston General Hospital, I came away very disillusioned with our current health system and was wondering if you could advise me on the best way to deal with the following problem.

My son Callum has had a terrible spinal injury resulting in low level quadriplegia, but fortunately he has the use of his hands and arms. He broke his C7 vertebrae on March 12 - the result of a body surfing accident at Cosy Corner near Binalong Bay. He was flown from there to the Austin Hospital where he spent 11 weeks during which time he had major surgery on his neck and suffered a multitude of extremely unpleasant health issues as a result of this injury. He was then moved to the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre where he is expected to remain for at least another four months before he returns to Tasmania. He will by then have been institutionalised in the hospital system for at least 7 or more months!'

I just should say that this young lad is in his mid-twenties and at the time or just prior to the accident had very good employment with the Examiner newspaper at Launceston. I might add and I should say that I applaud the Examiner newspaper for the support that they have given this young lad in keeping his job open and have done a lot to help and support him financially as well. I commend the Examiner for the support of their employee in this case.

'Upon his return we were hoping to get him home as soon as possible. This of course will be dependent upon house renovations which I will be doing my utmost to complete before his expected return date. Also this will be dependent on finding funding to help us with the house renovations as he is not covered in any way because of the type of accident he had. Can you offer me any advice as to who I might contact or write to access further financial assistance?

Are you aware of any government support in this area aside from the menial 1 000 dollars offered by the Tasmanian government from the Spinal Account to assist with house renovations?

I gather the Spinal Account is specific funding for those people who incur a traumatic spinal cord injury. In Callum's case, this funding will be additional to Home and Community Care (HACC) funds to provide subsidised labour costs for home modifications. These HACC Funds are the only funds available for anyone else with a disability that is not related to traumatic spinal cord injury, who need to modify their home premises so they may live independently at home.

After my meeting with Pam I was devastated to learn that on Callum's return to Tasmania he is more than likely to have to stay as a patient at the LGH for an extended period of time if the Spinal and LGH Rehabilitation Team experience difficulty successfully accessing funding for a care package! He will possibly need a minimum of 20 hours care per week when he gets home.

Apparently there are around 240 people on the statewide waiting list for these packages already and he will be added to the end of the list.'

That list changes all the time and I think it was recently identified that there are about 280 now on that list but it is a fluctuating list.

'These are my questions:

1. Are the Government really unaware of these figures?

2. Is this current care package situation (obviously with insufficient funds) a result of poor forward planning to meet projected needs?

3. Is the availability of care packages (level of funding) equitably distributed across the state?

What I find absolutely appalling and astonishing is the fact that people with a disability and unfunded care needs have to remain in hospital where it costs more than $1 000 per day (and even more on the Rehab Ward) for care provision, until such time as the funding becomes available for these packages. I fail to see the sense in this when care packages can be arranged possibly for less than $90 for 3 hours care per day. This is an unbelievable waste of taxpayers' money, particularly when funding is such a critical issue in our current health system. And of course how can our present government justify the money they waste on what many taxpayers consider to be unnecessary spending - such as the millions of dollars flittered away on AFL football, when our health system is in crisis and people like Callum suffer because of such frivolity!

When Callum comes back to Tasmania he will have finished his rehabilitation program and he needs to come home to his family as quickly as possible, without an extended wait in hospital due to the inadequacies of our government to provide the necessary funding that will allow him to do so. He has already suffered greatly, both physically and emotionally, as a result of his accident. Yet another prolonged stay in a hospital setting is almost guaranteed to increase the associated stress for Callum and all his family members during this already stressful and difficult period. It also makes him more vulnerable to infections which could further impede his general health and wellbeing.

Any further rehabilitation services Callum might need on his return to Tasmania can be accessed by him being an outpatient and attending the appropriate clinics or services available to him in our local community. Callum should not have to endure further emotional distress due to a lack of government funding on his return to Tasmania. It's also a huge waste of taxpayers' money keeping him in hospital when for a fraction of the cost a care package can be arranged to support him at home.

After touring the hospital a few days ago, it was apparent most of the patients were elderly, resources were limited (there is only one full time dedicated spinal rehab position - Pam Hesketh's and the affiliated Northern TAS spinal allied health resources are very limited as identified in the latest rehabilitation review) and it's not the environment he needs to be in to get the best possible outcome for him.

What was apparent though was that the skeleton spinal staff that will support him on his return was excellent and I look forward to working with them in achieving the best possible outcomes for Callum and this includes getting him home to us as soon as possible. Hence my email and request for advice from you as to how I can best go about making this happen.

I know you will do you best to support us where you can and I look forward to hearing from you about this matter.

Kind regards,

Janine Davis'.

That is a very concerning letter written from a mother who is in a very difficult situation in now having to care for her son for life. It is a diabolical situation and very clearly paints the position there of the support that she will need moving forward.

At this stage I want to congratulate and commend the Riverside Lions Club who have come to the front here, Mr Deputy President, and they are now providing some support to the family, and I understand that support is by way of some modifications to the home so that Callum can come home and live in that environment. I take my hat off to the Riverside Lions Club, once again coming to the front in helping people in a difficult situation. Mr Michael McGee was the previous president of that club. I know him well. He has been talking with the member for Rosevears in relation to this matter. The Lions Club is a very dedicated group of people, helping and supporting the public.

Interestingly, there was a comment in that letter in relation to the elderly. A lot of elderly people with disabilities are in hospital systems and are being cared for there. I was just going through a couple of e-mails, and a recent e-mail I received, as I guess all members would have, was from ATAC - Action for Tasmanian Autistic Children. If you go through the report, you note that it refers to the crisis in disability care in Tasmania and Australia. It makes some interesting comments. It is a recently released report by PricewaterhouseCoopers into disability services in New South Wales - it reveals the absolute crisis that neglect of the disabled has led to in that State. I suggest that a somewhat similar situation exists in this State. The basic premise of the report is that the majority of support for the disabled - about 80 per cent - is provided by family and friends. When you go through the report, you will see that this level of support is dropping off, because a lot of the people providing that support are elderly themselves. As they move out, as they pass on, that job is left for others to pick up ? for the State, or other groups to pick up. The report suggests that this will be a huge impost on governments, moving forward. It is an interesting report. I suggest you read it, and identify what is going to happen in the future in the area of disability services, and what will be needed to help these people through. It is quite an interesting report to read.

I suppose it is easy for us to blame the Government for all of these problems. The Government is doing a lot of work in this area - I appreciate that. This bill certainly addresses a lot of those issues. The individual plans area is dealt with in section 10, and it sets out what needs to be done and what will happen with regard to people suffering from disabilities. I look forward to where we are going with this. I know the minister responsible has made some comment in recent times about disability funding - where it is going, and how we can access further funding for these areas. She has made a number of recent releases in that regard.

Mr Parkinson - It is a budget matter, really, too.

Mr DEAN - Yes. In one of her latest releases, on 31 May, 'More support for people with disabilities', reference is made to Able Australia and, once again, you take your hat off to these organisations: 'Able Australia today officially opened its new Moonah office which will offer space for people with a disability to access State Government-funded alternatives to work programs.' So, we have lots of things happening in this area. There is a lot yet to occur, and I hope that people like the ones I have just mentioned can benefit. People like Callum - a perfectly healthy man who simply went down the east coast to participate in some enjoyment activity, and then finds himself in the position he is in now - a responsibility for his family.

Callum has had to leave his work at the Examiner to get the pension, so he can access the treatment he now needs. He has had to do that. He did not want to do it, but the Examiner has said, 'we will keep your job open'. What a wonderful thing. We hope that support for a person like Callum's mother, Janine, can occur, and that she is given the support she is entitled to, to care for her son.

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