The Canberrans languishing in nursing homes and hospital beds

She was 12 when a bomb blast in her native Lebabon left her paralysed, the shrapnel causing scars which are still visible.

At 29 she would get to live out a dream of moving to Australia, where she would settle in Canberra and start a family.

But at just 50, impaired with spinal-cord injuries and rheumatoid arthritis, she found herself confined to a nursing home, living alongside people much older than her and in a unit not equipped for her disabilities.

She had no other option: her disability support pension wasn't enough to keep paying the rent at her old two-bedroom townhouse.

"I think she imagined that was it for her," Aida's daughter, Melissa, said of her mother's predicament.

"She didn't ever think that there was something else out there that was possible. She kind of just accepted the fact."

After her mother was accepted into the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2017, Melissa - who had relocated from interstate to help care for her - stepped up the fight to find her a suitable place to live.

And it would be a fight.

Melissa pushed to get her mother onto the social housing priority list, while also exploring options for specialist disability accommodation (SDA).

Aida was eventually approved for SDA and moved into her own place earlier this year, ending a decade living prematurely in aged care.

Melissa, who spoke to The Canberra Times on her mother's behalf, said it was a dream come true.

But not everyone in similar situations has been fortunate.

On any given night, thousands of Australians with disabilities remain stranded in nursing homes and hospital wards.

There were more than 2930 younger people - defined as under 65 - living in residential aged care in Australia as of June 30.

The overwhelming majority are on the NDIS.

The Morrison government set a target of reducing that number to zero by 2025 - except for exceptional cases - after a recommendation from the aged care royal commission's interim report in 2019.

It also committed to no person under 45 living in a nursing home, and no under-65s moving into one, by 2022.

The numbers in each category have fallen significantly and continue to decline each quarter.

But the positive trendline masks a different story.

In many cases, participants aren't leaving because a suitable home has been found, but because they are dying or surpassing 65 - at which point they're no longer counted in the figures.

Di Winkler is the chief executive of the Summer Foundation, an organisation founded in 2006 for the purpose of stopping young disabled people from being forced into nursing homes.

Asked if the number of younger people in aged care was acceptable, Dr Winkler said: "No".

"Aged care is no place for NDIS participants - our research shows that their lives are characterised by boredom, loneliness and frustration," she told The Canberra Times.

The Summer Foundation's latest report card showed that the average length of stay in aged care has actually jumped since the targets were announced, rising from 3.7 years to 5 years.

Just 51 people moved into specialist disability accommodation in the past financial year, according to its research.

Availability of specialist housing isn't the major barrier.

More than 2500 properties are being advertised for rent on the Housing Hub website, including 10 in Canberra.

The bigger problem, advocates say, is the red tape which prevents the National Disability Insurance Agency from making quick decisions on funding for housing and support.

Dr Winkler said the 2025 target was still achievable, but urgent action was needed.

The Summer Foundation and other disability and housing groups have been campaigning for decisions on housing funding to be made inside 10 days.

Dr Winkler said a national workforce was needed to support people navigating the transition from aged care to suitable housing. Participants themselves also need more help to understand the housing options which were out there, she said.

In October, NDIS Minister Bill Shorten recommitted to the 2025 goal as he accused the former government of blowing the 2022 targets.

In an interview with The Canberra Times as part of its We need to talk about the NDIS series, Mr Shorten floated one option to stop younger people entering nursing homes.

"We've got say to people going into nursing homes, 'no'," he said.

"That is one thing that health (department) can do, just say 'no, that is not an option, we'll find alternative accommodation'".

Mr Shorten said if the government was able to identify each person under 45 and under 65 living in aged care, and make sure all of them had been offered "genuine choice" on where to live, then it was doing its job.

"But until we have that granular level of detail then the job can't be done," he said.

One of Mr Shorten's first priorities as minister was to speed up the release of NDIS participants who had been stuck in hospitals, in some cases for years, despite being medically fit to leave.

There were 1380 participants confined to beds across the country as of August 3, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $3 million per night.

Like those in aged care, red tape rather than a shortage of housing is considered the major barrier.

The federal government, working with states and territories, has implemented a plan to speed up discharge rates, which includes the NDIA delegating decision-making to staff who work directly with the hospitals.

Under the plan, the agency must contact an NDIS participant within four days of being notified of their hospital admission, and prepare a discharge plan within 30 days.

Progress has been made.

Mr Shorten last weekend told Sky News that about 350 people had been moved out of hospital and into longer-term accommodation.

Kooyong MP and former pediatric neurologist Monique Ryan wants the government to go further, drafting legislation to mandate the 10-day decision timeframe which the Summer Foundation and others have been calling for.

"The paperwork and administrative delays are costing patients, but they are also costing the healthcare system," Dr Ryan told The Canberra Times.

"We are at the worst possible outcome for the system, but also for the individual."

Mr Shorten promised a "blitz" on hospital bed block after The Canberra Times reported on the case of Canberra man David Harkness during the federal election campaign.

In circumstances the former Labor leader described as a "scandal" and an "abuse", Mr Harkness had been stuck in hospital for more than six months after being admitted for surgery to amputate his right leg.

The 61-year-old was fit to leave, but couldn't until the NDIA approved funding and work was finished on modifications to make his home wheelchair accessible.

Mr Harkness's 14-month stint in hospital ended when he finally returned to his renovated Kambah home in October.

"I thought 'thank God for that - I'm not going back there (hospital)'," Mr Harkness said of escaping hospital.

Mr Harkness is grateful for the NDIS.

The scheme funded the $126,000-worth of modifications to his home and pays for support workers to assist him for up four hours a day.

But he can't help but feel he should have been home much sooner.

"It (the hospital stay) was necessary, but only because of the slowness of the NDIA. I really could have been home in three months," he said.

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