Page 545 - Week 02 - Thursday, 11 February 2021
Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
For people with a mental illness, including people with psychiatric disability, the
ACT Health Directorate also funds Carers ACT to deliver support, counselling, education, advocacy and referral services.
In 2020, the ACT Health Directorate published COVID-19 an ACT Operational Plan for People with Disability which provided guidance to support carers for people living with disability during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the ACT Health Directorate will commence work on an ACT Disability Health Strategy.
(3) In the 10th Legislative Assembly Parliamentary Agreement, both the Greens and Labor committed to progress the ACT Carers Strategy 2018-2028. The ACT Government will continue to build on partnerships with Carers ACT and the Carers Strategy Governance Group to progress actions under the Strategy. As the first three-year Action Plan under the Strategy ends in 2021, the Government will work closely with the Governance Group and lead agencies to review the successes of the first three years, and build on these to improve the governance, implementation and evaluation of actions throughout the rest of the Strategy.
(4) In the last 12 months, the Community Services Directorate has not received any complaints about carers of people living with disability.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission commenced operating in the ACT on 1 July 2019. One of its core functions is to receive and investigate complaints about quality and safety within the scheme. The data for the number of complaints received by the Commission is not currently available to the ACT Government in detail. The Commission reports on the number of complaints it manages through the NDIS Commission Activity Reports.
The ACT Human Rights Commission has been able to receive complaints about alleged abuse, neglect or exploitation of older people or adults with a disability since May 2020. We have received five complaints in relation to carers of people with a disability between May and 30 November 2020.
(5) In 2017, the Carers Voice Panel came together to identify issues that carers experience when interacting with Government and community service providers. These issues were outlined in the Carers Voice Panel Report that informed the development of the Strategy and the Action Plan. Carers made it clear they need recognition from medical and other professionals of the knowledge they have about the people they care for. The Strategy responds to this concern through several actions, including an action to conduct a carer impact assessment for the ‘Hospital in the Home’ initiative, considering carers’ needs and their role as part of the care team. Other actions seek to acknowledge carers on health plans, including their role and support needs and consider carers’ needs during hospital discharge processes.
Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video