ALEX COOMBS AND JANE PORTNOY
Alex Coombs and Jane Portnoy are Social Workers – Haemophilia & Other Inherited Bleeding Disorders at the Ronald Sawers Haemophilia Centre at Alfred Health, Melbourne
Q: I’m a bit confused by the Disability Support Pension (DSP) which I get, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and My Aged Care. Does one affect the other? I live with my mum who is getting older and slower every day and we are both beginning to have problems and might need help.
It can be daunting to unravel the government benefits schemes and services available to people with bleeding disorders and their family as they grow older. This question is common among our clients.
We are all growing older and some days it seems the acceleration is faster than others. Disability and aged care services can be a minefield of terminology, acronyms, official websites and guidelines. Waiting in the queue on the telephone for answers can seem endless and be very tiring. With that in mind, we have outlined answers to some of the issues raised in this question.
This article is adapted with permission from Ask us: Q & As with Alex and Jane, Alfred Hospital HTC Team. The Missing Factor, September 2019, magazine of Haemophilia Foundation Victoria (www.hfv.org.au). The adapted article was first published in National Haemophilia 2021 Sep;215:16-21.