Who receives support from SRF Support (West)?
Adults who live in Supported Residential Facilities (SRFs) in the western suburbs and who are assessed as being of high and complex need.
What are SRFs?
Supported Residential Facilities are licensed under a state act of parliament (SRF ACT 1992) under local government authority where residents are provided with accommodation and meals as well as basic support in areas such as personal care, money management and medication management. The licences are granted by local councils, who regularly inspect the premises to ensure the SRFs meet the standards of the Act. The SRFs are managed by proprietors as private businesses. SRFs in the western region vary in character depending on the owners’ skills with different clients. Although they all adhere to the requirements of the Act, SRFs may have a predominance of elderly residents or more residents with a mental health diagnosis, as many of the facilities were originally psychiatric hostels. Other SRFs skilfully combine a diversity of people to achieve a family like environment. Amongst the residents living in SRFs are people with mental illness, intellectual disability, brain injury and people who are elderly, with many having more than one diagnosis. The SRFs in the Western region have a particularly high concentration of residents with high and complex needs.
How did the program get started?
In 2004 the State Government, in response to concerns that residents were not having their needs met from within the community and from agencies working within the SRF sector, developed and funded a new Disability Support Program. The metropolitan area was divided into four geographic regions and each was funded separately. The aim of the Disability Support Program is to ensure each SRF resident within these regions has been assessed by the SRF Assessment Team to determine the most disadvantaged people for referral to the program.
Who else is involved?
The organisations charged with providing these new services for SRF residents in the Western Region include UCWPA who provide the support and community integration component and Enfield Community Services (ECHS) and Clovelly Park Community Health Centre (formerly Inner Southern Community Services [ISCHS]) who provide allied health which includes - nursing, physiotherapy, podiatry, dietetics and occupational therapy. Additional roles have been added to Mental Health Services in the form of a Community Interface Project Officer (CIPO) and a similar role now exists in Mental Health Services for Older People (MHSfOP). These roles provide a pathway into these mainstream services specifically for SRF residents. SRF specific dental and optical programs have also been established. UnitingCare Wesley Port Adelaide SRF Support (West) program team members work collaboratively with the above agencies, Intellectual Disability Services Council (IDSC) and Brain Injury Options Coordination (BIOC) as well as the regional mainstream agencies to ensure that residents who have been referred have access to medical and allied health treatment.
What is UCWPA’s role in this program?
UnitingCare Wesley Port Adelaide SRF Support (West) provides Community Support Workers to work directly with SRF residents who have been referred for this service. UCWPA also organises the individual service plans and reviews for each resident in collaboration with the other relevant agencies. Community Support Workers provide both one to one support and group work and duties vary from taking people to medical appointments, assisting residents to access community opportunities to supporting people to take showers.
How can people access the program?
To receive a service from the SRF Support (West) Program a person must be currently living in an SRF and be assessed by the SRF Assessment Team Assessor. If as a result of that assessment the person is identified as being of high and complex need the Assessor will refer him/her to receive a service. The SRF Assessment Team can be contacted on 8272 4488.
Contact
Sue Altman
Ph: (08) 8440 2245
saltman@ucwpa.org.au
or Sue Blythe
sblythe@ucwpa.org.au
Ph: (08) 8440 2274
64 Dale Street
PORT ADELAIDE SA 5015
