Urgent disability funding shortfall not addressed for five months

· Board approval to hand back residential services if $180,000 funding shortfall not addressed

· 16 clients and 15 staff could be affected

· Minister denies knowledge of issue after five months of letters to Department

A reputable disability service provider of residential services, Oak Tasmania, will no longer be able to provide support to 16 people with disabilities in the south of the State if the Government does not act to address a funding shortfall.
This could put 15 jobs at jeopardy and leave these vulnerable people without vital support.
The Liberals have today questioned the Human Services Minister on why there has been no action on urgent requests to meet a $180,000 funding shortfall five months ago.
It is amazing that the Minister claimed no knowledge of the issue following an exchange of letters between Oak and Disability Services (at the Area Director level) spanning five months from 29 May 2009 to 30 September 2009.
Those letters clearly spell out that Oak is facing a financial crisis in relation to the provision of residential services and there is a need for decisive action, not delay.
It was made clear to Disability Services that if no additional funding was made available, the provider would be obliged to close their residential services and hand responsibility back to the Department.
The organisation has informed me that it can no longer meet the funding shortfall from its own resources and has Board approval to hand the service back.
The Government will have difficulty attracting another provider at this level of funding.
Fifteen staff are employed to provide these residential services, and I am informed the union, HACSU, has been briefed on the possible loss of these jobs.
Sixteen clients, 12 in group homes and four who are supported in their own home, could be affected. These clients have not had their real support needs assessed by Disability Services in the past six years.
The Government’s Living Independently reform program transferred residential group homes to non-government operators as a result of a damning report by KPMG in 2005.
The rationale for the transfer was that Government-run group homes were not meeting standards under the Disability Act, and the transfer would enable the Department to separate its responsibility for oversight of the system from the hands-on running of residential care.
The Government promised to establish and monitor service standards to ensure safe and high quality services for clients, but disability service providers are now finding they are not being funded adequately for the level of care of people with disabilities, many of whom have additional needs associated with their ageing.
The Minister must get across the issues in her portfolio and meet immediately with Oak Tasmania to remedy this urgent problem for the organisation, its staff and disability clients.
Brett Whiteley MP Shadow Minister for Health and Human Services