NDIA Accountability Project

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Disability Related Health Supports - Policy Implementation Bowel care consumables – Addendum to CAPS and SAS information

FOI-24/25-0120

DOCUMENT 1

Disability Related Health Supports - Policy Implementation

Bowel care consumables – Addendum to CAPS and SAS information

Bowel care consumables * Review what would be considered for NDIS funded bowel care consumables; e.g. enemas, washouts, anal plugs etc.

This information is intended to be used in addition to the SAS and CAPS information.

Bowel care consumables

There is no specific ‘bowel care consumables’ subsidy scheme in Australia.

Bowel Care Australia is a Rotary initiative that provides an affordable $15 bowel care screening kit. They do not provide consumables1.

The CAPS ‘continence consumables’ payment rate for 2019-20 is up to $609.70.

  • As you do not need to provide receipts people may use this lump sum to contribute towards covering the cost of bowel care consumables as well. Often the purpose/scope of bowel care consumables and continence consumables are interchangeable.

Provide example: BrightSky Australia is your one-stop-shop for specialist healthcare products. BrightSky offers Australia-wide home delivery of an extensive range of everyday and “hard-to-find” healthcare products, including bowel care products2.

A list of the bowel care consumables available through BightSky and the associated cost can be found here on the: Bowel Care Fibres, laxatives, enemas and bowel rinses page.

  • In general the anal irrigation systems are the most expensive items ranging from $149- $368.

The issue for NDIS planners to consider is if these bowel care consumables meet the reasonable and necessary criteria when they are related to the person’s disability.

  • For example, a NDIS participant with a spinal cord injury, MS, CP, Spina Bifida or an ABI may require continence/bowel care consumables that are directly related to the participant’s disability and are required for life.
  • While for a participant with incontinence due to, for example, post-pregnancy muscle weakness, anxiety, or medication side effects, it would not be reasonable or necessary for the NDIS to fund continence/bowel consumables.

Bowel consumables pose a significant sustainability risk to the scheme if the reasonable and necessary criteria is not applied correctly. The Better Health Channel Victorian website states that:

  • More than four million Australians regularly experience leakage from the bladder and bowel (incontinence)3.
  • That is 1 in 6 Australians with some form of incontinence. That ratio could reasonably be assumed to be higher for the expected 460,000 NDIS participants.

1 http://www.bowelcare.org.au/ 2 https://www.brightsky.com.au/epages/shop.sf/en AU/?ObjectPath=/Shops/shop/Categories/About Us 3 https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/incontinence-and-continence-problems

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