Julia Irwin (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is more than two years since a private member’s motion called on the Howard government to use the Council of Australian Governments to deal with the issue of young people in nursing homes. The Council of Australian Governments agreed on a proposal to fund and develop a $244 million program to begin to address this very issue. It is 16 months since I made a statement in this House on this same issue. There are still issues with the provision of these essential services across state and territory borders and there is still an appalling lack of specialised care for young people living in nursing homes, which are primarily geared towards looking after the elderly.

Two of my constituents care for their son at home. It is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job. This young man was stricken by an acquired brain injury requiring continual intensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation and, with their son having a long life expectancy, the parents are engaged in an open-ended commitment. It is done with love and it is also done with care. But the reason his parents and many others in the community have chosen this path of care is the lack of facilities that offer respite and that can give the level of intensive therapy and care required. In the case of my constituents, their search for a facility offering the adequate level of care they were looking for brought them to the Australian Capital Territory. But the sting in the tail is that because they are New South Wales residents the cost must be met by the patient and his family. It is an expensive proposition for them and, of course, for most families. The division of responsibility between the states and the Commonwealth is such that young people with disabilities requiring a high level of care are caught between the two—a Commonwealth carrying responsibility for nursing homes and the states with carriage for disabilities.

The need for respite or long-term care and intensive therapy for young people in care appear to be mutually exclusive. Nursing homes, whose primary role is to provide care for the elderly, are not able to provide the necessary intensive therapy and rehabilitation that a young person with a need for a high level of care may require. While nursing homes can offer respite and long-term care for a young person, the lack of specialised care condemns that young person to a life with little optimism. The families look further afield, sometimes as far as the Australian Capital Territory, to meet the needs of their loved ones, and even then it is not always satisfactory.

If a young person is in need of medical treatment they go to a doctor or hospital and, once treated, will hopefully have a full recovery. The treatment appears relatively seamless because the bureaucracy behind that treatment is relatively seamless. The bureaucracy of the relevant state or territory is entirely responsible for the treatment. However, what happens if there is no recovery? That young person may end up in a nursing home. The primary role of a nursing home is to care for the elderly and they are not geared to provide intensive therapy and rehabilitation for a young person. Worse still, the division of responsibilities between state and Commonwealth governments is reflected in the differences between nursing care—and the facilities that provide it—and care for the disabled, who require intensive therapy and rehabilitation. The care is not seamless. The result is that patients and their carers are being tied up in bureaucratic red tape and buck-passing. This is an intolerable situation which leads to more despair.

Carers must have more options at their disposal and must not be further burdened by having to deal with a disjointed bureaucracy as well as the ongoing commitment of being carers. It is imperative, therefore, that the federal government look at the establishment of specialised high-care beds for young people in nursing homes, accompanied by the availability of intensive therapy and rehabilitation where required; and, through the Council of Australian Governments, reduce and eliminate the red tape which prevents the seamless and timely care of young people in nursing homes.