Million Dollar Patient

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday June 21, 2005

By DAN PROUDMAN EXCLUSIVE

THE State Government has come under fire for spending an estimated $1 million on housing a former psychiatric patient in a five-bedroom house set on acreage with a tennis court and swimming pool.

The Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care has forked out huge amounts in an attempt to integrate the teenage woman back into society as part of the Government's "devolution" policy, which aims at taking those with high needs out of institutions and putting them into the community.

Neighbours say the department's policy has caused their lives to be ruined, with police being called to the Aberglasslyn house on numerous occasions since the department took out a $700-a-week lease more than 18 months ago.

"You just sit here and think how many other people are in the same predicament around the state and how many are having $1 million spent on them each year," neighbour Bob Parsons said.

The woman is in custody after police were called to the house twice on the same day this month following allegations she had assaulted one of her full-time carers.

Her needs are so great that she has at least two full-time carers and sometimes three registered psychiatric nurses during each of three daily eight-hour shifts.

An industry source said the woman was

Continued Page 2

Lives ruined by the million dollar patient

From Page 1

moved from a Lake Macquarie duplex after neighbours complained about continued noise and disruptions.

It is understood she was under the Department of Community Services' care as a child but under the care of other departments after police reports and court orders called for improved care.

Industry experts estimate the department would have paid out $1 million for the level of care needed to keep her at the Aberglassyn property.

An industry insider said a handful of patients across the state had similar needs.

But the source said: "No one had ever seen this sort of funding before."

Though not able to publicly confirm the figures, the department said it had been able to reduce costs "by nearly one-third" since taking out the Aberglasslyn lease in September 2003.

A department spokeswoman said that in 1998 then Minister for Disability Services Faye Lo Po had made a public commitment to close "large residential centres" for people with a disability.

The spokeswoman said the so-called evolution policy was aimed at seeking "cultural and social change . . . to one which valued people, included them in all aspects of community life and established certain rights as citizens".

But the decision to house the woman in the quiet rural setting has angered neighbours, who say they are left with regular early morning wake-up calls involving high-pitched screams and yelling.

They have to call police to attempt to quell the noise and disturbances and allege they have seen assaults regularly on carers, who also call police.

But the neighbours' concerns, which they say have been sent to Maitland MP John Price and the Government, have failed to achieve any change.

In an October 2003 letter to Mr Price, forwarded to then minister Carmel Tebbutt, Mr Parsons wrote of "a number of occasions when the person has . . . [slipped out of the house unnoticed by carers] and has caused distress to neighbours with grave concerns for their personal safety and of their property".

"With our grandchildren frequent visitors to our home . . . we nightmare at the possibility that the person may escape the control of the carers and cause them some physical harm," the letter said.

Mr Parsons said: "You don't shirk the responsibility of looking after people . . .

"But it is such an ineffective way of doing it and you have to wonder how many others are costing so much money."

A spokesman for Disability Minister John Della Bosca said the department did not intend to renew the lease, which expires this year.

"Just last week, in discussions with the department, the minister expressed his concerns with the current arrangements for people with very high support needs," the spokesman said.

"The minister has scheduled a round table with the disability council and other experts next month to discuss accommodation needs and explore potential alternatives."