Capability and Culture of the NDIA

Submission 42

To Whom it may concern,

I am writing to you as an experienced Occupational Therapist (of over 25 years in practice) and small business owner to share my deep concerns and frustrations with procedures for NDIS functional assessments.

I have over 20 OTs on my team, and whilst we have de-registered from NDIS work (due to a myriad of business related issues impacting practice which I wont go into here)… We still complete AAT tribunal assessments for NDIA.

I am also an active member of the OT NDIS facebook page where I see day after day confusion, frustration and concerning protocol regarding how we has clinicians are to process paperwork/assessments, which in my opinion are minimalist/non sensitive / inappropriate when looking at functional impact of disability on individuals.

I have been made aware of a discharge form developed for NDIS clients which is very ‘tick a box’ and suggests that any allied health practitioner can complete (when functional assessment and discharge planning are primarily the skill set of an OT). It also is not providing a framework of clinical reasoning which in my opinion is required when completing care needs / functional reviews.

Recommendation

1. It is clearly evident that the mass of confusion arises from poor procedures, inadequate templates and inappropriate non-health trained staff making decision regarding approval of treatment, rehab and care at NDIS.

2. It appears that NDIS have removed a critical layer of clinical management/coordination in decision making, which then results in delays / poor understanding / inappropriate health decisions and significant frustration amidst clinicians.

3. Concerningly the design of the scheme, which has encouraged many private OTs to branch out as sole traders without support of supervision or review, means that the quality has dropped /support is minimal /high risk of burnout of clinicians has increases and overall confusion remains

4. It is my strong recommendation that the NDIS considers the organsational structure of icare (including how they appoint/approve case managers, care needs assessors and have a dispute panel / clinicians making decisions ) to help regulate and also provide adequate guidance on framework for submitting functional assessments.

5. we call for the development of an evidence-based, co-designed, person-centred model of functional capacity assessment that is tailored to the need of the NDIS

Yours sincerely

Kate Moore Clinical Director / Business Owner

Capability and Culture of the NDIA

Submission 42

Website: www.moorerehab.com.au Follow us on Facebook Days of work: Monday – Thursday

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