FOR more than a decade Ageing Disability and Home Care team leader Debi Stephens has been caring for up to seven people with intellectual disabilities in a group home in Nelson Bay.
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Of the current residents, five are aged over 65 and therefore do not qualify for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding.
"Some of them have lived together for up to 30 years and treat each other as family, in fact, for some they have no other family," said Ms Stephens, who is also a Public Services Association delegate.
"They have grave fears they will be separated from each other and that their quality of care will be altered.
"They have little or no understanding of the changes and because many of them cannot speak up for themselves, or have no family who can, my fear [once the NDIS is introduced] is that they will be pushed from pillar to post."
A union delegation took up the plight of Ms Stephens and other disability health care workers in Port Stephens, meeting with state MP Kate Washington last Wednesday.
Steve Turner, the PSA's assistant general secretary, said his union was concerned about the repercussions from the state government's decision to no longer deliver disability care services to the aged.
"By September it is expected that the national rollout will be announced and that by July 2016 the rest of NSW will be included in the NDIS, there is a real concern how the elderly disabled will be treated," Mr Turner said.
"We believe the number of people affected in the Port Stephens area to run into the thousands."
Ms Washington said that while the NDIS was a terrific initiative, there was an onus on the state to continue to look after the disabled in the community.
