National Conference 22-23 March 2010

This national conference over two days will explore the emerging agenda of consumer-centred health care.

It is an event not to be missed for anyone with a passion for reforming our health system so that consumers and their families are at the centre of the system – in practice as well as in rhetoric.

Speakers include

• Christine Bennett, Chair, National Health and Hospital Reform Commission
• Ian Hickie, Executive Director, Brain and Mind Institute, Sydney University
• Just Stoelwinder, Chair, Health Services Management, Monash University
• Maxine Drake, Health Consumers’ Council of WA
• Siegried Drews, Web2Care, Consumer-Directed Care Management
• Philip Davies, Health Systems and Policy, University of Qld
• Barry Welsh, Ministry of Health, New Zealand
• Enrico Coiera, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, UNSW
• Coralie Wales, President Chronic Pain Australia
• Russell McGowan, Health Care Consumers Association ACT
• Di Batterham, Westgate Health Co-operative Ltd
• Angela Mackenzie, Paediatrician, Royal Children’s Hospital Vic
• Bruce Rumbold, Palliative Care Unit, LaTrobe University

Key themes include

• Commonwealth reform initiatives: making change happen
• Organising and empowering health consumers
• Medicare Select: policy design and opt-in health plans
• Self-care and self-management in health
• Consumer-directed aged care
• Consumer-centred innovation in mental health
• Consumer-centred innovation in drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• Consumer-centred systems
• Consumer-centred funding arrangements
• Chronic illness consolidated budgets
• Capitation-based payment systems
• Health brokers, care co-ordinators, health info-mediaries
• Community engagement in health reform
• Partnerships between practitioners and consumers

Who Should Attend?

• Health consumers and self-help groups
• Carers and family support organisations
• Health providers and practitioners
• Health services and community sector organisations
• Health researchers and analysts
• Health funds
• Corporates with an interest in better health care
• Governments and policy makers

The venue is Angliss Conference Centre in Melbourne’s CBD, corner of LaTrobe and Kin Streets, close to public transport and a range of accommodation options.

Click here for the program.

Click here to register.

Community Arts Network SA, as part of its Community Arts Development Program, and the Disability & Arts Transition Team, are presenting a disability and arts Funding Application Workshop (view the flyer in pdf or doc formats).

This will be a free workshop for artists and arts workers on the ins and outs of applying to funding programs.

11am to 3pm

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Topics covered include:

• How to explain your idea
• Understanding the criteria
• Getting your budget right

Guest presentations by Arts SA

Clare Tizard, Manager
Richard Llewellyn Arts & Disability Trust
and Community Arts Development Fund

Sandra Naulty, Manager
Independent Makers & Presenters

Lunch and drinks provided
View the access and dietary requirements form
Or phone us on 8231 0900 with your requirements

Where

Restless Studio
Community Arts Network SA (view map)
234a Sturt St Adelaide
(Enter off Arthur St)

RSVP Essential

Monday 8 February 2010

8231 0900

datt@cansa.net.au

Self-managed funding, also known as individualised funding, is an approach used to enable people with disabilities to have control and choice about the supports they receive.  Self-managed funding gives a person with a disability control of the funding that has been allocated for their support needs.  It enables the individual to choose how, where and when they receive the support they need.

Self-managed funding can range from a direct payment to a person with a disability to enable them to arrange and purchase the support they require, through to arrangements which support a person to self-manage.

At the request of the Minister for Disability, the Department for Families and Communities has been planning the implementation of self-managed funding arrangements.  The Office for Disability and Client Services has been leading the work which has entailed broad consultation with people with disabilities and their carers, service providers and other key stakeholders.  Phase one is commencing with current clients of Disability SA being invited to register interest in participating in the phase one initiative.  A panel will select 50 people to participate in phase one.  Participants will be current clients of Disability SA and have an existing allocation of ongoing disability support.  No additional funding is associated with this initiative.

Phase One: Self-managed Funding is a development phase.  Self-managed funding represents a new form of service delivery for people with disabilities and their carers and service providers.  For this reason participants will participate in an evaluation that informs future self-management arrangements.  Disability SA will ensure that participants have access to training, advice and assistance throughout Phase One.

Disability SA has set up an information line to provide information and answer any queries.

People interested in submitting a Registration of Interest and obtaining an information pack can do so via:

www.sa.gov.au/disability/selfmanagedfunding

or

Calling the Information Line on 1300 786 117

The Dame Roma Mitchell Trust Fund for Children and Young People was established by the South Australian Government and South Australian Council of Social Services to make grants available to children and young people who are, or have been, under Guardianship of the Minister or in State care.

Grants are available for the following purposes:

To assist you to achieve personal goals
To contribute to your health and wellbeing; and or
To provide development opportunities.
Applications for the Dame Roma Mitchell Trust Fund will be accepted from 13 August 2009 and will close on 30th September 2009.

Application forms and more information available at:

www.dfc.sa.gov.au/pub/Home/Financialsupportandgrants/Grantsforyoungpeople/tabid/275/Default.aspx

INDIVIDUALS
Amr Abdallah – Music
$8000 to produce and market a debut EP.

Robert Cettl – Literature
$6000 for ebook publication of Always An Other?  Representations of disability in Australian film.

Naomi Clarke – Visual Art
$7500 towards the purchase of adapted photographic equipment and a photographic exhibition in 2010.

Adam Cocca – Music
$3000 towards the purchase of adapted music equipment to assist in the production of songs.

Elizabeth Dickinson-Sharpe – Music
$800 professional music study fees to assist in the development of her piano skills.

Helen Katsinis – Literature
$3000 for attendance at a national conference for professional romantic fiction writers.

Mel Kelly – Performing Arts
$2745 for stage one development of Drug Of Choice, a hybrid performance-art piece.

Teri Kelly – Literature
$5000 to assist in the publication of Girls Like Me, a poetry anthology.

Kyra Kimpton – Dance
$10000 for development of solo dance piece Prelude.

Daniel Levy – Music
$6000 to produce a second EP.

Suzanne MacKenzie – Music
$2600 for travel costs to access singing and music lessons.

Gaelle Mellis – Theatre
$8829 for stage two development of contemporary performance piece Take Up Thy Bed And Walk.

Nina Pearce – Theatre
$4000 to re-stage This Place, a play to be presented during Mental Health Week.

Jungle Phillips – Visual Arts
$4094 to produce a professional quality catalogue and exhibit at three Sydney galleries.

Phil Spruce – Literature
$5100 to draft a novel All That You Can Be.

Kelly Vincent – Theatre
$8900 to create Startspace, a cross media installation theatre work.

ORGANISATIONS
CanDo4Kids – Visual Arts
$8179 for a mentorship program with professional artists to make a tactile mural for vision and hearing impaired children.

Central Northern Adelaide Health Service: Club 84 – Music
$11,925 to support The Harmony Of Hearts Choir to produce a professional quality performance for presentation at various community events.

City of Port Adelaide Enfield – Community Cultural Development
$11,000 to present the Umbrella Fest by Tony Doyle Visions at the Port Festival in October 2009.

Ink Pot Arts Inc- Music
$8036 for Tutti artists to work with The Gathering Wave choir to develop a concert performance.

Kym MacKenzie and Darryl Williams – Theatre
$7880 for professional development of Roadies – a comedy act about two stagehands.

Mental Health Coalition SA – Visual Arts
$3000 to have an exhibition during Mental Health Week 2009.

No Strings Attached – Theatre
$13,300 for stage two development of the play Steak ‘n’ Chelsea with Rachel High and Julie MacNamara.

Restless Dance Theatre – Dance
$17,500 for development of a new dance theatre piece Beauty with choreographer Ingrid Voorendt.

SA Writers Centre – Literature
$13,000 to employ a writer in residence to assist writers with a disability.

Individuals:            16                      $86,168
Organisations:        9                       $93,820
Total Applications: 25     Total:       $179,988

There are now revised eligibility criteria for children accessing the Federal Government’s early intervention funding through the Helping Children with Autism Package.

Click here for details (FAHCSIA web-site).

Continuing a strong commitment to people with disability

A new National Disability Agreement between the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments will improve and increase services for people with disability, their families and carers.

The agreement reflects a strong commitment from both levels of government to provide more opportunities for people with disability to participate in and enjoy Australia’s economic and social life.

The new agreement is designed specifically to assist people with disability to live as independently as possible, by helping them to establish stable and sustainable living arrangements, increasing their choices, and improving their health and wellbeing. At the same time, the agreement focuses on supporting families and carers in their caring roles.

Allocating record levels of Australian Government funding

Under the new agreement, the Australian Government will contribute $5.3 billion to state and territory-run disability services over the next five years. The agreement means that by 2013, the Australian Government’s contribution will reach $1.25 billion, compared to $620 million in 2007.

An extra $408 million will fund services and reforms to the disability services system. As well, the agreement includes $1.9 billion announced in May 2008 to pay for more than 24,000 supported accommodation, respite and in home care places.

Average indexation of Australian Government contributions will increase from 1.8 per cent a year to around 6 per cent—the highest level of indexation under a disability agreement.

Outside the agreement, the Australian Government will continue to provide $9.88 billion for Disability Support Pension, over $3.2 billion for Carer Payment and Carer Allowance, and more than $600 million for services for people with disability, including employment services.

Setting a reform agenda

Importantly, the new agreement paves the way for significant reforms to the disability services system, with Disability Ministers agreeing in July this year to an ambitious National Disability Reform agenda. The reforms will mean a more responsive system of disability support that is easy to access and responds flexibly to people’s changing needs.

The agenda will include reforms to roles and responsibilities for funding and delivery of disability services. This will lead to more consistent and responsive services, clarify accountabilities between governments, and improve disability services’ performance.

As part of the reform process, governments will work in the first half of 2009 on proposals in community care relating to mental health, disability and aged care services. The goals of such reforms will be to deliver more integrated and responsive services for individuals and families, to clarify accountabilities between governments and to improve performance of service systems. Specific proposals in relation to community mental health, disability services and aged care will be considered in the first half of 2009 as part of this program, including future arrangements under the Home and Community Care Program.

In any new proposal, the Australian Government will continue to lead and coordinate national disability policy, deliver income support and employment services for people with disability, and work cooperatively with State and Territory Governments.

Improving the disability services system

The reforms aim is to create an effective, efficient and equitable disability services system, which focuses on early intervention, individual and personalised attention, and lifelong planning.

In agreeing to reform, governments will work together to introduce a system of single access points, uniform assessment processes, a national quality assurance system, more consistent access to disability aids and equipment, and better ways to measure unmet demand for disability services.

Elements that underpin the reforms are:
•    systems that provide single access points and assessment processes in line with nationally-agreed principles to ensure people are referred to the most appropriate disability services;
•    early intervention and planning to ensure that clients receive the most appropriate and timely support;
•    improved measurement of unmet demand for disability services;
•    population benchmarking of disability services;
•    a national workforce strategy to address attraction and retention of the disability services workforce;
•    a national quality assurance system for disability services; and
•    national ‘harmonisation’ in providing aids and equipment.

Starting the new agreement

The agreement comes into effect from 1 January 2009 and will replace the existing Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement.

Finding out more

For more information about the National Disability Agreement and the National Disability Reform agenda:
•    Telephone: 1800 008 612
•    Email: nationaldisabilityagreement@fahcsia.gov.au

The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs, Jenny Macklin, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities
and Children’s Services, Bill Shorten, have progressed a range of
initiatives to support people with disability, their families and carers, over
the past twelve months. Read more in the full document (PDF)….

THE HON JUSTINE ELLIOT MP
Minister for Ageing
MEDIA RELEASE
6 November 2008
The Australian Government has simplified the application form for the Continence Aids Assistance Scheme – a program that helps people with the cost of pads and other personal continence products.

Families, people with incontinence and their carers are now able to access the assistance with greater ease following the Australian Government’s decision to update and improve the necessary application form.
The program (which was expanded last year) now includes a greater range of eligible conditions – both with neurological and other causes for incontinence – such as children with Downs syndrome, and those with developmental delays associated with Aspergers syndrome or Autism spectrum disorder. (Last year, across the country, 4,197 children under the age of 16 received assistance under the scheme.)

Minister for Ageing, Mrs Justine Elliot launched the updated form at the 17th National Conference on Incontinence in Hobart – an event sponsored under the Government’s National Continence Management Strategy.

“This is a commonsense and fair measure to make the application process easier,” Mrs Elliot said.
“This change will assist families with a child with Downs syndrome, Aspergers syndrome and Autism spectrum disorder to receive much needed assistance.”
Nationally, four million Australians are affected by some form of incontinence.
The decision to improve the form followed concerns from families, advocates and health professionals on the need for additional information on eligible conditions for the scheme and updated guidelines for health professionals following its expansion last year.

“Parents whose children have developmental delays causing incontinence have told me that these changes will improve their access to assistance,” Mrs Elliot said.
The program now helps around 50,000 people including more than 1,400 in Tasmania.
It is also set to increase support to around 54,000 by the middle of next year.
It provides an annual subsidy for continence products of up to $479.40 – an amount that is now indexed annually.

The updated form is based on specialist medical advice and is now available online.
“This is an important step for many families,” Mrs Elliot said. “This clearer information will streamline the process of people applying for assistance and is about supporting families during these tough times.
“Incontinence can greatly reduce a person’s quality of life by restricting their social and family activities and job opportunities,” Mrs Elliot said.

The valuable and supportive scheme, which assists people who have permanent and severe incontinence to meet some of the costs of continence products, was expanded last year to include people aged five years or over whose incontinence is caused by an eligible neurological condition.
The seven neurological condition categories are:
Spina Bifida and Syringomyelia

Cerebral Palsy

Intellectual Disability

Paraplegia and Quadriplegia

Acquired Neurological Conditions

Degenerative Neurological Diseases,

Bladder (and bowel) Innervation Disorders.

The expanded scheme also allows people with a Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card access to the scheme if their incontinence was caused by other conditions.
For further information on the Continence Aids Assistance Scheme visit the Intouch web site at www.intouchdirect.com.au/healthcare/caas.htm or call Intouch on 1300 366 455 or the Department of Health and Ageing on 1800 807 487.
Information on the National Continence Management Strategy is available from the Australian Government’s bladder and bowel web site www.bladderbowel.gov.au.
The National Continence Helpline is staffed by a team of Continence Nurse Advisors, who provide prompt, confidential and professional information and advice to callers from 8.00am to 8.00pm, Monday to Friday, on 1800 33 00 66.
The National Public Toilet Map is available online at www.toiletmap.gov.au.
For more information, contact Mrs Elliot’s office on (02) 6277 7280

20/08/2008

Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Bill Shorten, today announced a $1.1 million boost for organisations representing people with disability across Australia.

The Australian Government has committed $620,000 to disability advocacy agencies, and over $527,000 to disability peak bodies, to help them strengthen the voice of people with disability.

Nine of the peak bodies have received $270,000 to invest in staff training, IT upgrades and/or research, and an extra $257,000 for services, such as interpreters, hearing loops, Braille material, attendant carers and venue hire.

“Advocacy agencies play a vital role in giving a voice to people with disability and ensuring their rights are protected. This funding will help build their capacity and improve advocacy support to people with disability,” Mr Shorten said.

62 disability advocacy agencies also received one-off funding of $10,000 under the National Disability Advocacy Program (NDAP) to buy goods and services such as IT and communication equipment or staff and management training.

“The NDAP assists people with disability overcome barriers such as physical access, abuse, discriminatory attitudes and neglect which have such a negative impact on their daily lives and their ability to participate in the community,” Mr Shorten said.

“The grants come on top of more than $12 million that the Australian Government has committed to the NDAP over the next financial year.

“This funding will go some way to help these groups and advocates of people with disability continue reflecting the views of Australians with disability.

“The Australian Government is committed to delivering the best outcomes for people with disability, and this funding will help safeguard their rights and interests.”