Sector Training Activities

Disability Hospital Stay Guidelines Explained

For individuals with disability to maintain and achieve good health outcomes, the health system, in particular, the hospital system and disability service organisations must maintain effective partnerships based on a quality approach with built-in safeguards.

There is clear evidence that adults with disability have relatively poor access to health interventions and health promotion programs. In addition, adults with disability have a significantly higher incidence of long-term health conditions and higher use of health services, including hospitalisation.

Furthermore, feedback from a range of stakeholder consultations indicates that health outcomes and effective engagement with the hospital system can sometimes be diminished by:

• poor communication between hospital staff, disability service organisations staff, the individual and their family or carer
• information exchanged that is ‘not fit for purpose’
• the lack of an appropriate representative for the individual, or the inability to identify the individual’s representative, to assist the hospital to understand the needs of the individual.

The Hospital Stay Guideline for Hospitals and Disability Service Organisations (the Guideline) was developed by the Disability Health Network and outlines a best practice approach for disability service organisations and hospitals in managing the hospital experience of individuals with disability. 

This informative session will outline the purpose and principles of the Guideline, the responsibilities of disability service organisations’ staff and the hospital worker in the individual’s hospital stay.  The Guideline covers the individual’s journey from pre-admission to discharge.