By Jess Baker
In a first, Churches of Christ has partnered with disability service provider Focused on Care to transition NDIS clients out of aged care and into shared living accommodation.
The organisations signed a 10-year licencing agreement that would allow Focused on Care to transform 64 rooms at Churches of Christ’s Warwick campus into new homes for its clients this afternoon.
Focused on Care Director Gavin Dunlop said the partnership would give many NDIS clients an opportunity to move away from the traditional residential aged care experience and develop their independent living skills.
“There are currently over 600 Queenslanders with a disability living in settings that are not ideally suited to their needs, including hospitals and aged care services, because accommodation that meets not just their physical, but their social and location needs, is unavailable,” Mr Dunlop said.
“The best outcome of the partnership is we are able to support people under the age of 65 to live with peers in appropriate surrounds and a familiar environment, and for some back in the community they’re originally from.
“From here, they’ll be supported by the Focused on Care team to build independent living skills, which may see them one day moving into their own home in the community.”
Mr Dunlop said some people under the age of 65 – some as young as 30 years old – had been living in residential aged care for more than a decade.
“So being able to live in an environment familiar to them with peers is a great opportunity. We’re very excited about that.”
Churches of Christ Director of Seniors Living Richard de Haast said Focused on Care clients would have their own section of Warwick’s aged care facility.
“When we built Warwick Aged Care Service, it was designed to serve the Southern Downs region well into the future,” Mr de Haast said.
“While there is not currently the demand for residential aged care to fill the whole service, we are excited to welcome residents who will gain so much from being there.”
Mr de Haast said the Focused on Care residents would have access to many of the “lifestyle activities” Warwick Aged Care Service residents have access to, including an “innovative gym” that was designed for individuals with mobility and strength limitations.
The partnership agreement came after the 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which reaffirmed the Australian government’s commitment to ensure no person under the age of 65 lives in residential aged care from 2025.
Mr de Haast said it was great to have made headway in achieving that goal.
“Everybody knows … that younger people will be moving out of aged care by 2025, but nobody’s got a plan. This is a plan,” he said.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to break ground but also show people what is possible, because therein lies the excitement …”
Churches of Christ in Queensland CEO Gary Edwards said the agreement was “ground breaking” and a “truly creative and collaborative approach” to meeting unmet needs for NDIS clients.
“(We’re) really looking forward to … working together as a team to be a really truly intergenerational, interdisciplinary combined campus,” Mr Edwards said.
The Focused on Care clients are expected to move to Warwick’s Churches of Christ campus at Dragon Street in September this year.
