Health is a key area of inquiry for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the Royal Commission). People with disability may be subject to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in health settings, and the denial of the right to health care may also be a form of neglect.

The Royal Commission wants to understand the experiences of people with cognitive disability in accessing or receiving health care. People with cognitive disability include people with intellectual disability, autism, acquired brain injury or dementia. People with cognitive disability may experience poor health outcomes due to barriers in the health system. Research suggests that people with cognitive disability are more likely to suffer an avoidable death that could have been prevented through appropriate health care.

The purpose of this paper is to invite information and discussion from the public on the key issues regarding health care and services for people with cognitive disability that require exploration by the Royal Commission, as well as examples of good practice.

We understand that health care of people with cognitive disability is only one issue we need to consider. We invite your ideas on other matters related to health that we should be examining. Based on your feedback and our research, broader experiences of people with disability in the health system will be addressed in issues papers in 2020.