On the 31 October 2019, the interim Report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care titled Neglect was handed to the Governor-General and tabled that day. The Royal Commission found that the aged care system showed a shocking tale of neglect. It was found that for younger people with disability in residential aged care, “it is an isolating and daunting experience. It is not a life.” It was therefore put forth that there is a need to “stop the flow of younger people with disability going into aged care, and expediting the process of getting those younger people who are already in aged care out.”
On the 25 November 2019, the Morrison Government responded to the Aged Care Royal Commission Interim Report in a Media Release titled Response to Aged Care Royal Commission Interim Report. This media release focused on addressing and taking strong action to the priority areas of concern being:
- Increasing home care packages
- Reducing chemical restraints
- Getting younger people out of residential aged care
The solution to third concern as highlighted by the Morrisson Government as seen in the Media Report:
The Government will invest $4.7 million to help remove young people from residential aged care and further support these goals by:
- Establishing a Joint Agency Taskforce (JATF) between the Department of Social Services, Department of Health and National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to develop a new strategy that builds on the Action Plan and takes action to ensure these new targets are met;
- Establishing a specialist team within the NDIA to prevent younger people with a disability who are eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme from entering aged care. The specialist team will grow to 80 complex support needs planners by end March 2020 to find suitable accommodation and match participants to vacancies;
- Working with industry to identify all available Specialist Disability Accommodation and Supported Independent Living supports across the country to develop a database of existing and new housing options available now and in the future; and
- Undertaking a detailed analysis of younger people currently living in aged care, as well as up to 2,000 young people at risk of entering aged care, to better inform new policies and pathways to find alternate accommodation.
The targets set out by the Morrisson government in the 2019 media release for the issues of younger people in residential aged care are:
- No people under the age of 65 entering residential aged care by 2022;
- No people under the age of 45 living in residential aged care by 2022; and
- No people under the age of 65 living in residential aged care by 2025.
On 22 March 2019, the Morrison Government released the Action plan for the YPRAC Strategy, which stands for Young People In Residential Aged Care. On 30 September 2020, the Morrison Government released the comprehensive YPRAC Strategy 2020-25, replacing the action plan. The strategy is broken down into four areas of priority with the aim of giving younger people more choice and control over their lives and where they live. Those four areas of priority as seen in the report:
- Priority 1: Understanding younger people and systems
- Priority 2: Improving the systems
- Priority 3: Creating options
- Priority 4: Supporting change
These four priority areas have been identified as critical to achieving the YPIRAC targets by:
- Preventing younger people from entering residential aged care;
- Supporting younger people to leave residential aged care; and
- Supporting younger people while they are in residential aged care.
The latest update released by the Australia government show that there has been a 30% decrease in the number of admissions of people aged under 65 years old to residential aged care from July to September 2021, versus the same period in 2020. This period also showed a decrease in the number of people aged under 65 years old in residential aged care.
So, what can service providers do to help bring down the number of younger people in residential aged care?
- Educate the wider community of the housing options available to people living with disability.
- Educate the wider community of the issues that young people face in residential aged care.
- Assist people with the process of moving into other forms of accommodation.
- Connect with Hospitals to assist patients with transitioning from Hospitals to other forms of accommodation.