A 70-year-old quadriplegic man and his wife have been forced to return to coastal NSW after failing to receive a suitable level of care from the NDIS.
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Chris and Margaret Brockway abandoned their Port Macquarie farm and home of 30 years in December to move closer to their family and receive more assistance for Chris' disability.
After an accident eight years ago, Chris was left in a wheelchair and required up to 37 hours of residential care each week.
"We were told there were wonderful services available in the ACT and because we lived in a regional area there were some challenges accessing services quickly," Mrs Brockway said.
"Also we could no longer bear the isolation due to our distance from town and from our family interstate and this was beginning to impact our mental wellbeing."
But after advertising the sale of their farm and moving to Canberra, the couple were told they were ineligible for the NDIS with Chris facing either full-time care in hospital or a return home.
"After arriving in the ACT we were informed that because Chris was over 65 his care would now be administered through the aged care system rather than the disability system," she said.
Ms Brockway, 65, said they were forced to start a new application with Carers ACT only to learn there was not enough funding for the care Chris needed.
"We faced road blocks at every twist of the road and were told we had to have a residential address in the ACT before our application could be processed, so it was difficult to do anything," she said.
Ms Brockway questioned whether the age cut-off was appropriate given many people were not able to receive the quality of care needed in the aged care system.
"The age cut-off may be fair up to a point but what's the difference of a few months when you still have the same disabilities you had a year earlier?" she said.
"When you're over that age bracket and your partner is also ageing it's likely that you'll have an even greater need for care."
Ms Brockway but urged authorities to reconsider the age limit for other families in similar positions.
"We fear that Chris has fallen through a loophole because of the combination of our move to an NDIS-administered area, and his age," she said.
