Blake should have gone home in July but NDIS bungles mean he’s still in hospital
Blake D’Ombrain has been cleared to leave hospital after a devastating diving accident, but NDIS delays have needlessly kept him in a ward bed for months.
Kim D’Ombrain is desperately hoping her son Blake will be home for Christmas.
However, almost a year since the young rugby league star became a quadriplegic in a diving accident, the 20-year-old from the state’s south coast remains in a hospital bed.
Blake is well enough to be discharged – as long as he has the necessary supports at home in place. He has been to the footy, visited friends and even travelled to see his cousins in the bush.
Yet he remains stuck in Prince of Wales Hospital.
In NSW, the latest figures to November 12 this year show Blake is one of 1166 patients in a hospital bed ready for discharge but waiting for either a NDIS placement or aged care bed – up from 700 last year.
According to Blake’s mum, he’s stuck in hospital because of the failure of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to deliver what it was set up to do – help transition their son out of the hospital system.
Blake was given an initial discharge date of July. However, his family only just received the spinal injury bed they ordered more than three months ago. It arrived without the mattress.
The family also sought to widen Blake’s bedroom door to accommodate his wheelchair, and create an opening to the laundry and bathroom – a job a relative in the building game estimated would cost about $60,000. The official NDIS quote is $164,000.
The carers that would be required to look after Blake when he is home are only receiving their training now. One will be required to sleep with Blake in order to turn him in the middle of the night.
The family was also told to widen the front door, only to bring home a wheelchair and find it was wide enough.
And then there were the countless meetings and “hundreds of emails” until Ms D’Ombrain – who works in the education sector – decided to become “project manager”.
“We were in a state of trauma – and you don’t have the capacity to advocate – but then we started to experience the lack of co-ordination between the services,” she said.
Ms D’Ombrain said Blake was among several patients stuck in hospital, some of whom were refusing to return home until they had supports in place.
Three years ago, The Telegraph revealed a patient had been stuck in hospital for more than two years despite being medically fit for discharge.
It is not just NDIS patients – elderly patients are also becoming prisoners in hospitals due to a lack of aged care beds or home assistance.
Pressure is mounting on the federal government to table a vastly improved hospital agreement to the one offered in October, which the states and territories claimed would leave them billions out of pocket.
In NSW, patients ready for discharge are costing taxpayers about $1100 per day.
The federal government said it was increasing funding by 12 per cent next year, and insisted aged-care and NDIS reform would proceed alongside hospital negotiations and it was negotiating in “good faith” to finalise the funding agreement.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the impact of the “Commonwealth’s bed block” was being felt across the system.
“Our health system was not designed for this,” Mr Park said.
“Hospital beds are for acute care, not for someone’s long-term home.
“People staying in hospital for longer than they need to is not good for them, and it’s not good for the health system.
“These patients deserve better.”
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Originally published as Blake should have gone home in July but NDIS bungles mean he’s still in hospital
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