YOUNG people with disabilities are living in aged-care homes alongside the frail and elderly because there is nowhere else for them to go. Disability groups and the Australian Democrats say the young people are taking up beds that should be available for elderly patients who, in turn, are clogging up the State's public hospital system because there are no aged-care places available. In WA, 475 people under 65 are taking up aged-care beds, while 379 elderly patients are cared for in the public health system while waiting for residential aged-care beds. Brain Injury Council of Australia president Jan Bishop said young people entered nursing homes on the recommendation of Commonwealth Aged Care Assessment teams because there were no alternatives. The Aged Care Act allowed their admission on compassionate grounds. But Ms Bishop said people with disabilities in aged-care homes were often denied opportunities for rehabilitation and therefore a chance for a better quality of life. Gordon Trewern, director of the non-profit Nulsen Haven Association, which cares for people with profound and severe intellectual and physical disabilities, said most young people in nursing homes had brain injuries from car accidents, strokes and other medical conditions. "There are 19-year-olds in nursing homes with 70-year-old people," Mr Trewern said. "They need developmental input, training, therapy. They need a high level of care and aged-care facilities do not have the staff ratios to provide that." Democrats family and community services spokesman Brian Greig said young people in aged-care homes were part of the forgotten disability community. "They are forced into inappropriate Federally funded accommodation because State funded options are in such short supply," Mr Greig said. "Advocates have consistently highlighted the impact of the isolation experienced by these young people, ranging from accelerated deterioration to depression and suicide attempts." Aged and Community Services WA executive director Helen Attrill said young people with disabilities had high care needs and the aged-care sector was not funded to cope with those needs. Ms Attrill said most aged-care homes would have one or two people with disabilities and a few, such as the Brightwater Care Group, had developed special units for people with disabilities which attracted an additional care subsidy. Disability Services Commission strategic policy and planning manager David Hounsome said 83 people aged under 50 were considered inappropriately placed in aged-care homes. The rest of the 485 identified in a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare were aged under 64 and included many who were considered appropriately placed including people with brain tumours, severe cerebral atrophy and HIV. Disabled just 'put away' FORMER nurse Marlene Groothedde fought long and hard to keep son James out of an aged care home. In 1990 Mr Groothedde, then 27, was hit by a train, losing both his legs and receiving severe head injuries. He spent three months in a nursing home, but Mrs Groothedde said such a home was not a place for disabled young people. "They lie there most of the time with nappies on, bored, and it is terrible for the families to see them like that," she said She fought to get her son into a place with an opportunity for rehabilitation. Eventually, he spent about five years at Royal Perth Rehabilitation Hospital and a further six at a group home for people with disabilities. Two years ago, he finally reached an out of court settlement on compensation which allowed him to build his own home and live there with 24-hour care. "He's one of the lucky ones but there are thousands out there who haven't got any one-to-one people who can cope with such things and they are just put away and forgotten," Mrs Groothedde said. Source www.thewest.com.au by Peta Rasdien and Gay McNamara ###