Bureaucracy' leaves disabled man in hospital

'Bureaucracy' leaves disabled man in hospital
By Anna Morozow
Updated December 21, 2011 14:59:08

PHOTO: A Legislative Assembly committee has been told a disabled man has been in hospital for more than year because he cannot get the public housing he needs. (Giulio Saggin, file photo: ABC News)
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An ACT Legislative Assembly committee has been told a lack of cooperation between different government services has left a disabled man stuck in hospital for more than a year with nowhere else to live.

The Committee on Health, Community and Social Services is investigating the provision of social housing in the ACT, and has been told people with disabilities often have to wait a lot longer for housing because there is not enough suitable accommodation.

Fiona May from the ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service says one of her group's clients has been in hospital for about two years waiting for suitable housing.

"Because [ACT] Housing maintains that a house cannot be allocated until support services are in place and Disability ACT maintains that they cannot set up support services until a house is provided," she said.

Ms May says bureaucracy has prevented government agencies from working cohesively to find a solution.

She says the man has been in hospital so long he has become institutionalised and now does not want to leave.

"This client has very complex needs and does need a very high level of care, which he is getting in hospital," she said.

"Unfortunately neither Housing nor Disability are prepared to work together sufficiently in order to enable that to happen in a non-hospital setting at this time."

Ms May says the Government needs to collect data on how many of its public housing clients have disabilities or special needs, so it can provide more suitable accommodation.

She says ACT Housing does not keep comprehensive data on its clients' needs.

"Those are the sorts of things I think would inform Housing's planning," she said.

"If they know how many people are looking for social housing who have a disability that would inform how many houses they need to build that actually have the right sort of accessibility."

A spokesman for Community Services Minister Joy Burch says all agencies are working together to find a solution for the man, but his needs are very complex.