Halwyn Centre care facility closure reveals huge hole in NDIS
The pending closure of a Brisbane residential care facility for the profoundly disabled has revealed a funding hole in the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme.
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THE pending closure of a Brisbane residential care facility for profoundly disabled Queenslanders has revealed a funding hole in the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Families of the 39 Halwyn Centre residents in Red Hill are devastated after they were told two weeks ago by Queensland Health their loved ones’ home would close in November, leaving the residents in limbo.
The decision comes amid uncertainty about where they will go and whether they will continue to receive 24-hour-a-day nursing care as the federal and state governments argue over who should pay for the nurses.
Halwyn respite services will also cease from February 28, leaving other families to care for disabled relatives without a break.
On his first day back from holidays, Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles will meet with the families to listen to their concerns today after a scheduled phone hook-up with Federal Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher to discuss the political impasse.
A spokeswoman for Mr Miles said the NDIS had rejected the Halwyn Centre as a specialist disability accommodation provider.
At the same time, Halwyn families say their loved ones’ support packages under the NDIS do not include funding for the complex nursing care they require, such as seizure management for those with epilepsy and tube feeding.
“Queensland’s position is that residents of Halwyn should be provided with adequate levels of wraparound nursing and medical care as part of their NDIS packages — otherwise the NDIS will be leaving them unacceptably short-changed,” Mr Miles’s spokeswoman said.
“The residents of Halwyn and their families have every right to expect the same level of care and support under the NDIS that they have been receiving from the state in some cases for decades.”
The Courier-Mail understands Halwyn’s operational budget is $7.5 million a year with about 75 per cent provided by Queensland Health and 25 per cent by the state’s Disability Services Department.
That funding has since been “cashed out” as part of Queensland’s contribution to the NDIS.
As the issue threatens to turn into a political football in the lead-up to the federal election, the National Disability Insurance Agency has made it clear it sees nursing care as a state responsibility.
“Responsibility for diagnosis, clinical care and treatment of health conditions lies with health services, including those provided by state and territory governments,” the agency said in a statement.
“However, some NDIS plans may include funding for a qualified nurse to train a disability support worker to assist a participant, to ensure that the support provided meets NDIS quality and safety requirements.”
But under principles agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments in November 2015, NDIS funding responsibilities include “the delivery of nursing or delegated care by clinically trained staff (directly or through supervision), where the care is required due to the impact of a person’s impairment on their functional capacity and integral to a person’s ongoing care and support”.
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