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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-15 Daily Xml
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Disability Funding

367 The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO ().28 August 2024). Can the Minister for Human Services advise.

1. Can the minister provide in a table format the below questions: breakdown of the sales of disability goods and services (as the Department of Human Services Disability Services Program) in FY2023-24 and budgeted for FY2024-25?

2. Breakdown of those receiving assistance as part of the DHS Exceptional Needs Unit and Voluntary Out of Home Care, including ages, timeline of entering the unit, timeline of entering Voluntary Out of Home Care, and lengths of stays in various out of home accommodation as at June 30 2024, 2023, and 2022?

3. Breakdown of referrals received by the Exceptional Needs Unit, including the acceptance of the referral, and what alternative arrangements were made for the unaccepted referrals, as at June 30 2024, 2023, 2022?

4. How many people with disabilities are, as at June 30 2024, in hospital and non-permanent housing waiting for permanent, needs-matched, accommodation?

5. Breakdown of how many people with disability have been evicted from community accommodation as at June 30 2024, 2023, and 2022 and what was the reason for eviction?

6. Without disclosing individual residences, what are the locations of the Community Accommodation places?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries): I am advised by the Minister for Human Services:

1.

Description 2023-24Estimated Result$000 2024-25Budget$'000
SALES OF GOODS AND SERVICES
Revenue from service delivery to clients (116,137) (152,591)
Other (780) (738)
TOTAL (116,917) (153,329)


2. The Exceptional Needs Unit (ENU) supported 838 clients across 2023-24, 652 clients in 2022-23, and 433 clients in 2021-22 (The service experienced significant growth in 2023-24 due in particular to a new Care Service Pathway (CSP) created to transition former Community Connections Care Services clients to the ENU). The average timeline for individuals or families entering the ENU is between two-four weeks. The average age of clients the ENU supported in 2023-24 was 37 years old, in 2022-23 was 34 years old, and in 2021-22 was 31 years old. The average total duration of ENU supports that ENU clients received was approximately 1.4 years for 2023-24, 1.6 years for 2022-23 and 1.8 years in 2021-22.

Note that Voluntary Out of Home Care (VOHC) is a service response delivered by the Specialist Family Support Pathways (SFSP) program. SFSP is one of four service delivery programs in the ENU, and the above data includes client information from all ENU programs.

In 2023-2024, SFSP supported 77 clients, with 45 clients in VOHC. In 2022-2023, SFSP supported 75 clients, with 48 in VOHC. In 2021-2022, SFSP supported 57 clients, with 45 in VOHC cohort. The average age of SFSP clients in 2023-24 and 2022-23 was 14 years old, and in 2021-22 was 13 years old.

The average duration that each SFSP client has been in the program by financial year include:

Approximately 2 years' duration in 2023-24

Approximately 1.7 year's duration in 2022-23

Approximately 1.2 year's duration in 2021-22

The ENU and the NDIA meet fortnightly to endorse referrals into the SFSP program. On average, there is a timeline of approximately two-four weeks for acceptance into the SFSP program, noting that urgent situations occur where referral into the program occurs in less time.

Across 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 there has been a total of approximately 67 clients in the VOHC cohort, with an average of two-plus years stay in ENU-funded accommodation per VOHC client.

3. The Exceptional Needs Unit (ENU) received 481 referrals in 2023-24, 229 referrals in 2022-23 and 272 referrals in 2021-22.

The ENU intake committee accepted 242 referrals in 2023-24, 113 referrals in 2022-23 and 137 referrals in 2021-22.

Where referrals are not accepted, the ENU provides the referrer with a capacity-building response containing recommendations for alternate action and supports where appropriate. The broad eligibility criteria of each ENU program is available on the public-facing internet page and the ENU operates a duty service that provides information, advice and initial screening of enquiries into the unit. The ENU frequently delivers presentations about the work of the unit to various parts of the sector and seeks to advocate and collaborate across government regarding various gaps and system barriers for complex clients.

4. DHS Disability Services does not collect this information or have visibility of all people with disabilities in hospital and non-permanent accommodation waiting for appropriate accommodation within South Australia.

At 30 June 2024, DHS Disability Services was supporting 20 people within the short to medium-term transitional accommodation service—Transition to Home (T2H). T2H accepts people who no longer require clinical care and are medically able to be discharged into a safe community environment to build their independent living skills and find suitable longer term community housing options.

5. DHS does not collect this information but, where DHS was the housing provider, there were no NDIS participants evicted. DHS Disability Services were notified of one participant who was receiving support services by DHS that did not have their lease renewed by their housing provider.

6. DHS Disability Services supports South Australians to live where they choose and receive assistance with daily living across multiple locations:

192 disability accommodation sites across metropolitan Adelaide

12 disability accommodation sites on the Limestone Coast

three disability accommodation sites on the Yorke Peninsula

one residential aged care site at Northgate

two Transition to Home sites at located at Noarlunga and Semaphore, with additional satellite units located at Daw Park and North Brighton

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