Jon
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Jon retired after a career in disability support that included senior roles with service providers.
‘As an informed individual who has worked in or around the disability sector for approaching four decades … I have accumulated a degree of insight.’
Jon told the Royal Commission that a better trained and paid disability workforce would reduce deaths from pneumonia in group homes.
He pointed to an NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission review of factors contributing to deaths of people with disability in Australia. It said that people with cognitive disabilities and cerebral palsy are prone to dysphagia. Food and liquid entering the lungs at meal times cause a disproportionally high number of deaths from aspirational pneumonia.
‘If such deaths occur and they were preventable (through proper assessments, mealtime support arrangements, staff training and supervision, and regular practice audits), it follows that there has been a failure in the duty of care that was owed to those clients who died.’
Jon said that part of the problem stems from poor training and the employment of a large number of casual workers.
‘Funding (whether fee‐for‐service or government sourced) is always tight. This means that staffing levels are run as lean as possible … Fewer dollars tend to be spent on the pre‐service and in‐service training of casual staff than are directed to the training of permanent staff.’
Jon said few staff have completed a Certificate IV Disability training course. Casual staff often work multiple jobs and are not familiar with their clients.
‘All the points above result in a workforce that is largely untrained in – and substantially unaware of – the importance of mealtime support plans and the provision of mealtime assistance.’
Jon said the NDIS provides the best chance to prevent deaths.
‘It would be a disgrace if the opportunity to eliminate preventable deaths is not seized when – arguably – it is there for the taking.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.