The Health Department’s latest progress chart shows the waiting list for disability accommodation in Tasmania has skyrocketed.
The quarterly report by the Department of Health and Human Services shows a 95 per cent jump in the number of Tasmanians urgently waiting for supported accommodation, including group homes.
In September, 154 people were on the list, compared with 79 at the same time last year.
David Clements from National Disability Services says it is alarming.
“There’s been effectively no increase in the disability budget at the state level to address those urgent waiting lists for some time now and I think that all of those people who have an interest in the welfare of people with a disability would be quite surprised that the waiting list has risen so sharply,” he said.
At the same time, the department’s report shows there has been a 5 per cent drop in the number of Tasmanians waiting for public housing in the past 12 months.
There were about 2,200 people waiting for public housing at the end of September.
That is the lowest number for the September period in more than a decade.
Human Services Minister Cassy O’Connor says more than 1,300 affordable houses and units will be built by 2016.
“We’ve had very significant injections of capital funds from Commonwealth and State Government in order to invest in supply of social and affordable housing,” she said.
“We housed 300 Tasmanians in the quarter to September.” The report on the performance of the state’s human services system has shown a rise in the number of children in foster care.
At the end of September, there were 1,086 children in out-of-home care, almost 7 per cent more than at the same time last year.
The quarterly progress chart compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services also shows a rise in unallocated child protection cases.
There was better news for public hospitals, with all four performing more elective surgeries in the three months to September.
Ambulance response times have also improved and there has been a drop in waiting times at the Launceston General Hospital since the opening of its new emergency department.
Source: ABC