Promotingg the human rights, interests and digggnityy of Victorians with a disabilityy or mental illness Community Visitors Annual Report 2009 Health Services Disability Services Mental Health Community Visitors Annual Report 2008–09 © 2009 Office of the Public Advocate ISSN 1836-3296 Cover: The cover of this annual report is an interpretation an artwork by Julie White entitled Lifesavers (above). It is rendered in felt pen and soft pastel on paper. OPA purchased Lifesavers from the State Trustees Ltd ‘connected09’ art exhibition celebrating the works of artists living with a disability or an experience of mental illness. Community Visitors Annual Report 2009 1 The Honourable Lisa Neville MP Minister for Community Services Mental Health and Senior Victorians Level 22, 50 Lonsdale Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 15 September 2009 Dear Minister RE: COMMUNITY VISITORS ANNUAL REPORT 2008-09 In accordance with the Health Services Act 1988, the Disability Act 2006, and the Mental Health Act 1986, please find enclosed the 2008-09 Annual Report of the Community Visitors Health Services Board, Disability Services Board and Mental Health Board. This year, the findings have been drawn from 5413 visits by 484 Community Visitors across the state. The report includes identification of issues across the reporting year as well as common themes which cross the three Community Visitor Program streams. The common issues include the continuing desperate need for more accessible affordable, supported and transitional accommodation for vulnerable Victorians. The Community Visitors Boards commend the report to you and look forward to working with you during the next financial year to continue advancing the rights of Victorians with a disability. Yours sincerely, Colleen Pearce Public Advocate and Chairperson of the Combined Board Office of the Public Advocate Level 5, 436 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 PO Box 13175 Law Courts, Victoria 8010. DX 210293 Local Call: 1300 309 337 TTY: 9603 9529 Fax: (03) 9603 9501 www.publicadvocate.vic.gov.au 2 Ordered to be printed VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER September 2009 No 235 Parliamentary Session 2006-09 Contents 1 Letter of transmission 4 Recommendations 7 Message from the Public Advocate and Chairperson 8 Community Visitors photo gallery 10 Introducing Community Visitors 11 Introducing the Combined Board 13 Introducing the staff 13 Message from the Program Manager 14 Common themes 17 Statewide findings 35 Regional findings 36 Barwon-South Western Region 42 Eastern Metropolitan Region 54 Gippsland Region 58 Grampians Region 66 Hume Region 72 Loddon Mallee Region 78 North and West Metropolitan Region 94 Southern Metropolitan Region 102 Facilities visited by Community Visitors excluding SRSs 2008-09 106 Community Visitors 2008–09 Recommendations 4 Health Services The Community Visitors Health Services Board recommends that the State Government: 1. uses the current regulatory review to mandate a care plan template to be used by all proprietors in the interest of all residents who occupy SRS accommodation 2. uses the current regulatory review to mandate that proprietors maintain a central record of incidents and injuries involving residents, and promote the use of this record to identify patterns of risk and better manage those risks 3. provide proprietors with program and service assistance to manage residents with complex needs to discourage the practice of rotating SRS residents through facilities, and placing them at risk of homelessness. Government assistance should include links to government-funded support programs or to more appropriate accommodation 4. provide support and incentives to community health and community support services to better target pension-level SRS residents (for example, ensure SRS residents have access to Aged Care Assessment Services, and local government support programs) and commit to programs that promote social inclusion 5. prioritise SRS residents’ access to public housing, which promotes independent living and, where necessary, provides adequate support services. Recommendations Community Visitors Annual Report 2009 5 Disability Services The Community Visitors 7. the Department of Human Services and Community Service Organisations monitor Disability Service Board more rigorously all support plans for people and recommends that: give greater attention to individual needs and aspirations so that these necessary documents are implemented in more vital and meaningful ways 1. in keeping with the State Disability Plan 2002- 2012, the State Government resource the closure 8. the Department of Human Services and of both Colanda Residential Services and Community Service Organisations achieve a the Sandhurst Centre and continue its commitment reduction in the numbers of casual staff being used to the redevelopment of the Oakleigh Centre who are inadequately briefed, trained or prepared to fully support and implement the individual plans 2. the Department of Human Services take steps required under the Disability Act 2006 to ensure that the people of the former Kew Residential Services institution are able to 9. as a matter of precedence, the Department of participate fully in their community on the Human Services develop and implement a policy redeveloped site, are not discriminated against, that adequately addresses the needs of ageing and can live safely in their homes supported by people and that is sufficiently resourced to staff with whom they are familiar and who are provide them with a range of lifestyle choices fully and appropriately trained to deliver the care that was guaranteed to them 10. that a protocol be developed between the Department of Human Services and the Aged 3. as a critical priority, the Department of Human Care Assessment Service to ensure that, when Services review outdated rosters in use at Plenty the question arises of whether there may be a Residential Services with a view to increasing need for an ageing person to transition to an staffing levels to better meet the needs of the aged care facility, all other options for care are changed resident profile across the site comprehensively examined and exhausted prior to any transition occurring 4. the Department of Human Services review as a matter of urgency the process used to place 11. the Department of Human Services address people into established homes, with greater the shortfall in the numbers of permanent and sensitivity given to the impact that people respite accommodation places without delay with challenging behaviours have on existing householders and to increase access to essential 12. the Department of Human Services and alternative accommodation when crises occur Community Service Organisations review or are anticipated the use of restrictive practices in on-going consultation with the Office of the Senior 5. the Department of Human Services and Practitioner to conform fully and openly with Community Service Organisations ensure all the requirements of the Disability Act 2006. people are able to live confidently in their homes without fear of violence, without unnecessary stress caused by unwanted interactions and with adequate support from a consistent staff team who are appropriately and properly trained and who fully understand their needs 6. the Department of Human Services review of transport across the state be re-examined to ensure that existing inequities for people in accessing their communities be removed and that all people are able to travel in the way that is the most suitable to their needs Recommendations 6 Mental Health The Community Visitors Mental Health Board recommends that the State Government: 1. implement a reduction in the practice of locking mental health units and move towards an open-unit policy 2. expedite the introduction of gender sensitive areas in acute mental health units 3. adopt the practice of ‘diversion from seclusion’ programs into all acute mental health units 4. continue to work closely with the Office of Housing and other accommodation providers in providing more affordable housing options for people with a mental illness 5. increase funding and accessibility to the Multiple and Complex Needs Initiative and the Integrated Rehabilitation and Recovery Care Program to provide individualised accommodation and appropriate supports 6. allocate funding for the construction of the Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre on the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital site and the redevelopment of the Bendigo Hospital 7. increase the number of secure extended care units that are geographically accessible to consumers and their families and carers 8. ensure that the effective monitoring of maintenance and cleaning in mental health services are being appropriately adhered to in the interest of all mental health consumers. Message from the Community Visitors Annual Report 2009 7 Public Advocate and Chairperson Many other consumers are being discharged to ‘pension-level’ supported residential services (SRSs), which do not have the specialised care they require nor, in many instances, the standard of facilities, which promote recovery - to the contrary. The SRS census during the year identified clearly the concerns of Community Visitors of many years that most residents of ‘pension-level’ SRSs have a diagnosed mental illness. The Government needs to urgently address this very serious issue as, without This is the 22nd annual report of the Community appropriate accommodation, recovery from mental Visitors Program, one of the largest volunteer illness is at best delayed and at worst impossible. programs in Victoria and supported by the Office Notwithstanding the positive contribution of funding of the Public Advocate. from the Supported Accommodation of Vulnerable Victorians Initiative, Community Visitors allege that Every observation, conclusion and recommendation human rights are being foregone while the issue is not in this report derives from the time, skills and properly addressed at the highest level of government. commitment of people who freely volunteer to help The best minds must be put to work on this matter, ensure people with a disability, who are vulnerable or which, left unresolved, undermines us all. who have a metal illness are treated with dignity and respect. This to to the ultimate betterment of the whole The issue of accommodation remains a concern across Victorian community as the measure of a society is in the streams. how it treats its most vulnerable. There is insufficient accommodation provided for The contribution of Community Visitors as the eyes of people with a disability. Residents are being shuffled the community on the standard of care for those with into respite accommodation to alleviate the demand a disability, who are vulnerable or who have a mental but this is disruptive to normal life and destablising for illness cannot be over-estimated. vulnerable people. The report herein acknowledges significant progress The 2008 National Survey of Volunteer Issues found for the consumers of mental health services in Victoria that some 60 per cent of volunteers say the top reason through the State Government’s new strategy Because for their volunteering is helping others; 86 per cent that Mental Health Matters and its consultation on a new their volunteering increases their sense of community Mental Health Act, which foreshadows a promising belonging and 98 per cent that their work as volunteers new era. However, consumers of mental health services makes a difference to their organisation and their work. still require affordable and appropriate housing to By all these measures, community visiting makes which to be discharged in order to complete their a difference. I thank Community Visitors who are recovery from acute ill-health. honoured in this report by a ‘photo gallery’ (pages 8 Due to the lack of suitable housing for some consumers and 9) and by their names in the back of the report. particularly for those who have an intellectual I also sincerely acknowledge the boards who give disability and a mental illness (‘dual disabilities)’, considerable time and expertise to their role, and the many identified in this report and last years, are staff for their commitment to the work of the program. literally living out their lives in institutions. We identify them as the ‘long-stay’ patients, of which 47 of the 99 identified in last year’s report remain in a facility for lack of appropriate accommodation. Of particular concern are the human rights of ten consumers in locked units who have been living as involuntary patients for eight years or more including Colleen Pearce one for 21 years (page 29). Public Advocate and Chairperson of the Boards Community Visitors 8 Photo Gallery 2009