Submission No 165
INQUIRY INTO IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME AND THE PROVISION OF DISABILITY SERVICES IN NEW SOUTH WALES
Name: Mrs Cheryl McDonnell Date Received: 8 August 2018
My daughter is a person with significant disability. She is a participant of NDIS. She is 30 years old. My daughter has a communication impairment. She has impairments of balance, mobility, cognitive, vision, and sensory impairments and has epilepsy. My daughter’s present plan ends on 21/12/18
We have several issues as listed below.
Issue 1
My daughter requires support in all areas of her life including all personal hygiene activities. Before the start of the first plan we acquired an Occupational Therapy report stating the need for a wheeled shower commode and a quote for the most suitable commode. This was uploaded to the portal in digital form. It was alsi given in paper form to the planner. Months later when no commode was made available i enquired of the then plan manager and the Coordinator of Supports about the issue. I was told the fault was mine. Four people in paid roles, the planner, the plan manager, the coordinator of supports and the occupational therapist wereninvolved in the process but the blame fir lack of the equipment was laid squarely on the shoulders of the unpaod carer! Again requests were made. Documents supplied. By the time NDIA bothered to look at the request we were only a few months out from the end if plan review and they decided nithing would hapoen until the plan review. Plan number two started on 21/12/17. Again OT report and quote were supplied. Again I personally uploaded them to the portal. Still as at today’s date, 08/08/18 the plan on the portal still states “quote required” My daughter and her support workers are still at risk of injury during every shower and we still do not have an appropriate shower chsir.
Issue 2
The funds for “Core Supports” was dropped by tens ofnthousands of dollars from the first plan to the second plan. The reason verbally given was that we had not used the funds in the first plan. During the first plan there was little help given by our then Coordinator of Supports. It seemed every conceivable kind of help my daughter needed was not her responsibility. During thenfirst plan wenhad many delaya and difficulties in finding thenright support workers for my daughter. I had to provide a great deal of the support for which I was not paid, and we coukd not use the funding. Upon recieving the second plan in december 2017 we immediately sought a review. Nine months later we still have not had a review. My daughter hasan important engagement in Melbourne for two weeks coming up and shebisnfast running out of funds for support. Her next plan is not due until December. We have still not had a review.
Issue 3
Selecting support staff for my daughter’s team is left up to me. I am a person with disability and find this beyond my capacity to do. We use an online platform to hire staff. The online platform carries out the administative duties of employment, but someone has to log on to the platform, search for appropriate staff, manage those staff members, make booking, cancel bookings and other tasks. This is a lot of work. When I reach the limit of my capacity to deal with these issues therebis no one to do this for my daughter. It would be a conflict of interest to have a support worker do this as they could easily approve shifts they did not work ir other such things. So whose job is it?
Issue 4
When I told the NDIA planner that I have upcoming operations and that I would not be available for overnight support for my daughter so more funds would be needed. The planners response was that my daughter woukd need tonconsider moving to a group home. My daughter owns her own home and provides accommodation for herself, me and my husband. My daughter is also looking for a suitable housemate with disabilities to rent a room. My daughter wants to continue living in her own home. I have applied for and been rejected for an NDIS plan.for myself in the basis that.my disability is not permanent because there is surgery available that may or may not reduce my chronic arthritis and pain. I can not have surgery if my daughter will not be supported. I cant get the help I need from NDIS until I have the required surgery. The NDIA is preventing me from having surgery while at the same time requiring me to have surgery.