Page 1851 - Week 09 - Thursday, 19 October 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
This inquiry was much needed in the aged area. It is, I believe, the first comprehensive report into the needs of the ageing in the ACT and the coordinated five-year plan will give governments a plan that can be effectively adhered to. It is, as Mr Wood has mentioned, significant, as the proportion of the ageing in the population of the ACT is rapidly increasing.
I also recognise that work has already been done in this area and I would like to give recognition to those individuals and organisations who have made a significant contribution over the preceding years, especially Dr Peter Sinnett, whose 1986 report is entitled A Review of Rehabilitation and Geriatric Services in the ACT; the Council on the Ageing; and many others.
I, too, would like to thank the many people who have made our task easier, especially those who made submissions. Sometimes individuals feel it a daunting task to put forward a submission, perhaps feeling it should be done in a certain way. I am pleased to see that, although those numbers were small, there were some submissions from individuals in our community.
Our committee is very fortunate indeed to have Dr Ann Scott and Ms Christine Windsor providing secretariat support for us. I would like to place on record a very special thanks to both these people.
Through its terms of reference - and I will repeat these because I think they are very important - the committee was asked to inquire into the needs of the ageing in the ACT community over the next five years in terms of home care, units and hostels, nursing homes, hospital and hospice accommodation, and other accommodation needs, with particular attention to the needs of the frail and disabled, dementia patients, those of ethnic origins and those requiring respite facilities; other matters relating to the ageing, for example, access to shopping and other community facilities and concessions; a coordinated five-year plan to satisfy those needs.
As you can see, Mr Speaker, the terms of reference were quite wide and quite detailed, and I believe the report that we have put down today adequately addresses all those needs. With that we set about our task. I must say at the outset that I was, and obviously still am, one of those people from the community who is very concerned about the needs of the ageing in the ACT.
Provision of aged care became very important to me personally when, almost five years ago, my uncle was paralysed by a severe stroke, and a nursing home was to eventually become his home. However, he had to wait 18 months in Woden Valley Hospital for a bed to become available; for 18 months he occupied a hospital bed when he should have been in a nursing home. Waiting for 18 months for a nursing home bed was totally unacceptable from his
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .