Aged care for young people ‘a human rights issue’

Younger people living in aged care is a ‘significant human rights issue’, the Disability Discrimination Commissioner says.

Kirby Littley and her parents Carol and Kevin leave the Royal Commission in Melbourne on Wednesday. Picture: AAP

Younger people living in aged care in Australia is a “significant human rights issue” which must be brought to an end, Disability Discrimination Commissioner Ben Gauntlett says.

Appearing at the Aged Care Royal Commission on Wednesday, Dr Gauntlett said the Morrison government’s goal of merely halving the number of younger people entering aged care by 2025 revealed a “misallocation of ­resources”.

“Younger people in Australia living in old-age-care institutions because of their disability or medical condition is a dark and inappropriate circumstance for this country to have allowed to occur,” Dr Gauntlett said.

“It is a significant human rights issue that we allow this position to be maintained. We need government to act decisively. To say that by 2025 that we can only halve the numbers of people entering aged care indicates a misallocation of resources.”

In March the Morrison government launched an action plan committed to halving the number of younger people in aged care by 2025.

Another witness, Carol Littley, whose 33-year-old daughter Kirby spent a year in aged care after suffering strokes, told the commission putting younger people in nursing homes was ­“almost like a punishment”.

“We’re putting people in aged care because we have nowhere else in 2019 to put them,” Ms Littley said. “I’m stunned by this whole experience because I know there are other Kirbys out there now that haven’t got people to ­advocate for them and they’re stuck somewhere.”

Kirby said she felt lonely and mistreated while in a Victorian aged-care facility, but now lives independently through support provided through the National Disability Insurance Scheme. “Aged care is not the place for young people,” she said.

Mario Amato, who spent 3½ years in an ACT aged-care facility after an epileptic seizure and two strokes caused damage to his frontal lobe, agreed. “We need something else for younger people,” the 59-year-old said. “I know that will cost the government a lot of money but we need to make ­adjustments to the system.”

Royal commission lawyers argue the federal government’s plan to get younger people out of aged care will not do enough, soon enough, to fix the problem. The plan is to support the 6000 people under 65 already living in residential aged care to find alternative housing by 2025 and to halve the number — currently 2000 a year — entering aged care.

“It is our intent that everybody living in a residential aged-care facility would be encouraged to think about other options, understanding that some may well choose to stay,” National Disability Insurance Agency acting CEO Vicki Rundle said.

“We’ve said that everybody under 65 by 2025, if they choose to leave, will be able to leave a residential aged-care setting.”

It would involve the NDIS supporting them to move into specialist disability accommodation provided by the market.

Additional reporting: AAP