In 2026, Advocacy for Inclusion is concentrating our health advocacy through a smaller number of targeted channels. People with disability face poorer health outcomes across acute, subacute, primary and preventive settings, and we want our efforts to land where they matter most. This year, our focus is on people in long-stay hospital settings – those living in hospital for months or years through no choice of their own.
AFI has prepared a position paper on the wellbeing and social support needs of long-stay hospital patients in the ACT. It looks at the evidence base, what Australian policy frameworks say, and where the gap between the two lies. It finds that national standards already require whole-person care that includes social and functional needs – but that current practice falls short for long-stay patients.
The paper draws on the ACT Wellbeing Framework and the ACT’s human rights commitments to argue that the hospital door does not change what people need to live well. It sets out a practical menu of supports – covering social connection, meaningful occupation, personal dignity, psychological wellbeing, and access to primary and dental health – and makes the case that the ACT is well placed to lead other jurisdictions in turning that commitment into something patients can actually experience.