Potentially avoidable deaths of people with disability in Australia 2013-2018
by Nic Stuart | Mar 19, 2024 | The Big Story, Wire
Analysis & Policy Observatory
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare investigated patterns of death amongst people using disability support services to see if there were any common links. Now the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s Quality and Safeguards Commission has re-analysed the study and probed deeper into the data. The result?A detailed investigation that should be used by organisations to minimise the possibility of accidental death.
The study investigated 9,062 deaths among 526,515 people with disabilities from 2013-2018. The study identified the health risks contributing to potentially avoidable deaths. The diseases categorised as potentially avoidable were influenza and pneumonia, coronary heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy and status epilepticus, kidney failure, and septicaemia.
Other contributing causes, such as ‘Injuries to multiple body regions, crushing, asphyxiation and poisoning by drugs’ were, nevertheless, particularly flagged as needing to be guarded against.
