The Summer Foundation’s interaction with the Aged Care Royal Commission ramped up in September when we lodged our submission and CEO Luke Bo’sher appeared at the commission’s Melbourne hearings.
The fact that aged care is not the right place for young people is well known, but our submission provides further evidence of this and of the terrible outcomes many younger people experience as a result of living in aged care.
Our submission says what needs to change and how it can happen.
It includes 12 recommendations to reduce the number of young people entering aged care; to assist those in aged care to exit; to improve the interface between the NDIS and the health system; and to stimulate accessible housing supply.
We illustrated the reality of the issues raised in the submission with the stories of people with lived experience of young people in aged care. Many of these stories were gathered at workshops we held across the country to support people to make their own submissions to the Royal Commission. In all, our #everystorymatters initiative resulted in nearly 100 submissions being written and lodged.
In its first Melbourne hearing in September the Royal Commission focused exclusively on the issue of young people in aged care. Our CEO was called to appear at the hearing as were several of those we supported to write their own submissions.
The commissioners are required to provide an interim report by 31 October 2019, and a final report by 12 November 2020.
You can read the Summer Foundation submission here: summerfoundation.org.au/acrc-submission