Leaders from Victorian health, disability and aged care sectors met in the K Room, Parliament House Melbourne, to discuss the need for coordinated care pathways for young people with complex support needs at the Victorian Joint Solutions Leaders Summit convened by the Young People In Nursing Homes National Alliance.

Dr. Bronwyn Morkham, the Alliance’s National Director, welcomed those present and asked each person to briefly introduce themselves, outlining their role and what outcomes they hoped to obtain from the morning’s proceedings. A desire to address some of the major service system blockages experienced across programs emerged as an early concern.

The arrival of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the ongoing imperative to progress the National Disability Strategy (NDS), have highlighted the pressing need for mainstream programs to participate in the reforms underway around services and supports for people with disability. While the issue of developing workable interfaces between specialist disability programs, mainstream programs and the NDIS has been discussed in many forums, little practical attention has been given to how this can be achieved and what outcomes are sought for governments, providers and people with disability.

The Joint Solutions Roundtables have been convened by the YPINH National Alliance in the jurisdictions to interrogate how these cross-­‐program connections can be developed. The Perth Roundtable focussed on the imperatives around the NDS and the NDIS in Western Australia and included discussion about the My Way and NDIS trial sites.

The arrival of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the ongoing imperative to progress the National Disability Strategy (NDS), have highlighted the pressing need for mainstream programs to participate in the reforms underway around services and supports for people with disability. While the issue of developing workable interfaces between specialist disability programs, mainstream programs and the NDIS has been discussed in many forums, little practical attention has been given to how this can be achieved and what outcomes are sought for governments, providers and people with disability.

The Joint Solutions Roundtables have been convened by the YPINH National Alliance in the jurisdictions to interrogate how these cross-­‐program connections can be developed. The Adelaide Roundtable focussed on the imperatives around the NDS and the NDIS in South Australia.

A follow up to the highly successful Joint Solutions Roundtable the Alliance had previously convened with senior officials from Queensland’s Department’s of Health; Communities, Child Safety and DisabilityServices; and Housing and Public Works, the forum was convened to raise awareness of the Queensland Joint Action Plan amongst the broader disability, health and housing sectors and highlight the need for improved collaboration across and between sectors, communities and government.

Over 80 young people, family members, advocates and service providers joined representatives from the National Disability Insurance Agency and senior officials to discuss the capacity of the Joint Action Plan to resolve the issue of young Queenslanders in long stay healthcare facilities; and begin collaborations with the NDIS to develop integrated service responses for young people with complex health and disability support needs.