Shifting responsibilities: The patterns of formal service use by older people with intellectual disability in Victoria

Abstract

As adults with intellectual disability age and inevitably lose support provided by parents, many will become more reliant on formal services. Potentially they can utilise both the aged care and the disability service systems, although neither have explicit policies in relation to this group. This qualitative study examined the patterns of service use by 62 older people with intellectual disability from 12 Victorian municipalities. The majority of older people were using aged-care services. As people aged, access to disability services declined and no collaboration between the aged-care and disability systems was evident. Older peoples' informal advocates experienced dissatisfaction with decision-making processes and the withdrawal of disability services. In addition, they were concerned about the appropriateness of aged-care accommodation services. The implicit policy of redirecting older people with intellectual disability towards aged-care services operating at the service level contradicts policy directions of both aged-care and disability services. The importance of explicit policy and program development for this group is discussed within the current Victorian policy context of aged care and disability services.