NDIA Accountability Project

Carers’ concerns regarding NDIS transition process in the Ovens Murray area

‹ PrevPage 1 of 4 · Source p. 1Next ›

Monday 13th December 2017

             To Whom It May Concern

Recent Transition to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for Families living in the Ovens Murray Area

On behalf of the Carers & Parents Support Group Inc. (CPSG), I wish to bring to your attention many issues and concerns that have been raised with me as Coordinator of CPSG. The Carers & Parents Support Group Inc. (CPSG) is governed by a volunteer carer Committee of Management providing services to 181 parents, families and carers of a person/s with an intellectual disability and /or dual disability, aged 18 years – 65 years living in the Ovens Murray area of Victoria. The Support Group provides advocacy, support, referral and mainly information services to parents and carers of people aged over 18 with an Intellectual Disability or Dual Disability. Our organization is based in Benalla and provides outreach services to many carers and families living in Wangaratta, Numurkah and Mansfield.

The NDIS launched in the Ovens Murray area on 1st October 2017. Many carers and families have been facing a variety of issues while attempting to deal with the recent transition to the NDIS from their old DHHS funding. To our families, it seems to be nothing short of a debacle, with many carers of people with intellectual disability and dual disabilities having to suffer unnecessary anxiety and stress. This extra stress to carers and families is unhealthy and has resulted in extra visits to local G. P’s and doctors; and even a person having to be taken by ambulance, to the Urgent Care Unit in the local Hospital with a suspected heart attack – thankfully after testing receiving a diagnosis of an anxiety attack.

Our Carers group, in partnership with CarersVic, has provided many workshops, preparing carers for the introduction of the NDIS in Benalla, Wangaratta and Numurkah over the past eighteen-month period. Carers also attended other information sessions those offered by VALID, Villa Maria etc. Although not all carers could attend nor could they always get to every workshop in a series, but for those who did attend, they were feeling confident in their preparation for the introduction of the NDIS to our area.

Carers issues raised to date include: -

1. Some carers’ names not included or recorded as ‘nominee” for adults with an
   intellectual disability with no literacy skills.

Page 2

  1. The Primary Carer Statements containing valuable and useful information were offered as evidence to be attached to LAC’s “gathering of information” session were often not acknowledged by the LAC and not sent onto NDIA delegate/planner.

  2. When attending the initial Local Area Coordinator (LAC - La Trobe Community Health Service) meeting, a carer misunderstood the conversation with a LAC regarding “a gathering of information” session; the carer / nominee thought they were just going along for “a Chat”. These meetings are usually held for 2 hours at the LAC Office or at a participant’s home as agreed to during the initial phone call from LAC. These sessions include the LAC using their laptop to log information into an algorithm site used by NDIA to develop participant plans. This results in the information gathering session being merely questions and answers, with sadly no room for individual information which must be attached and hopefully read and considered by the NDIA planner.

  3. LACs in Benalla seemed to be either “under the pump” to get people on board and registered or undertrained in their respective roles. For example: - LAC insisting a person with an Acquired Brian Injury and another person with an Intellectual Disability implement their own plan when this task could not be carried out by the participant. It would have been evident whilst at the gathering information session and on past history of case management in both cases that this task was not possible.

  4. Concern of length of time elapsing between date of plan approval and date of implementation by LAC’s – again is it a result of workers being too rushed to register, but unable to assist participants adequately in the implementation of plans?

  5. Carer of an adult with complex multiple disabilities with multiple service providers rang LAC to ask for a planning meeting with an NDIA planner or delegate as advised and was refused. Result of this approved plan will be reviewed on the grounds of “No Disadvantage”.

  6. Some people with disabilities have received plans with funding approved for a 2 year period, these plans are ambiguous as a carer / nominee mistakenly assumed that each year the plan would receive total amount of stated funding and again same amount funding in second year. However, it is the total funding amount over 2 years - half what was expected. Is a 2-year plan even legal under the current NDIA legislation?

  7. Approved NDIA plan for participant subsequently written very differently to verbal wording given over the phone by a competent LAC. Some plans look as though they have been cut and pasted from a totally different source/plan and one plan had the correct name and address of participant on the top of the plan however an incorrect name was quoted all the way through the rest of their plan.

  8. Planned management refused by the NDIA plan. Therefore, the participant has no choice in a plan manager so must use NDIA to pay for their services, even though participant had successfully used planned management in the past. NDIA planned management limits the choice of service providers which must be NDIA registered to be paid; this is often difficult in rural and regional areas.

Page 3

  1. Transition from old funding to new NDIA funding has been extremely long winded and clunkily – Benalla LAC advising a person with a disability that it could take up to 4 months for their services to be back paid.

  2. Plan corrupted on NDIA website and participant is still waiting to receive the correct printout of plan approved after 2 months. This plan disappeared from the webpage for two weeks, although the plan is visible now on the NDIA webpage. When printed out from webpage, it is less informative than the postal printout copy. This situation has caused much unnecessary stress to nominee, participant and their service providers.

  3. NDIA webpage list of service providers will only filter down to 50 kms radius of participant’s postcode which is often how far it is for families to travel to the nearest town. Most quality services are found much further afield i.e. Melbourne, Shepparton, Wangaratta, and Wodonga at least 80 – 400 kms from Benalla and further from Wangaratta. Please refer to transport concerns explained on page 4.

  4. One service provider was owed $23000+ before they were paid. On hearsay other State services have had debts of up to $250,000, with some businesses liquidating before they can even start. This situation is not only unbusinesslike, it is unacceptable. Who will pay these businesses their interest back or is unlikely they will employ a debt collector as they need to deal with a government department?

  5. Replacement equipment already assessed recently for participant needing to be re assessed by an Occupational Therapist with a new report at great cost – this is a waste of funding and resources.

  6. At a Wangaratta meeting in November, carers expressed their frustration at the whole process rolled out in Ovens Murray with quotes about when ringing LAC “it is like ringing Centrelink – you get a different person which time” - they would prefer to be able to talk to their contact LAC person who has time to discuss important matters.

  7. Another quote was “the review of the reviewable decisions” - what is this?? gobbley goook.

Transport:-

Or the lack thereof! This is a major issue for our families, with some already having had to dip into their own pockets to subsidise their travel allowance for the year after only 2 months on an approved plan. Although Benalla & Ovens Murray area may not appear to be Remote to a Federal system, we definitely do live in a Rural area with many disadvantages facing isolated vulnerable families with adult members dealing with disability issues and limited access to or choice of quality services. Not the least consideration is the cost of travel and distances between towns, services and families. Public transport is either unreliable or non-existent, resulting in families using their private car (costly to run and maintain) to access appropriate services. For example, many carer and their families living in Benalla are unable to attend any function in Wangaratta (84 kms return- limited public transport) or Mansfield (63 kms return – no public transport available) let alone travel to Albury / Wodonga (228 kms return – limited public

Page 4

transport) or Melbourne (400kms return – limited public transport) due to the cost and their time restraints. Carers are often living on a pension, facing never ending energy price increases, are time poor and often too tired. This results in their need to prioritize attending any additional activities as the majority of their time is taken up in their caring role.

Tips identified that may improve transition process: -

  • Communication between LAC’s & NDIA planners needs to be greatly improved.
  • Improved training of LAC’s and increased number of LAC on the ground to cover registration of participants; transition to NDIS plans and the huge volume of work needed to be completed especially during the implementation of plans when dealing with people with disabilities.
  • Time limits LAC spend with participants needs to be increased depending on individual needs. Carers issues need to be respected, acknowledged, considered and forwarded onto planners by all LAC’s.
  • Many of these NDIS plans identified above have come back and will need to be reviewed due to “no disadvantage”. This is an absolute waste of time & funding when all they need to do is make an internal draft plan that is shared with the nominees/participant and can easily be tweaked before being finalised and sent for approval.
  • Carers / nominees / participants should not be required to sign off at their first LAC meeting on a NDIA plan they have never seen. There is no draft plan offered for people to view, tweak and amend before sending off to be NDIA approved. This would be a more professional process than current practise.

However, I can report that we did have one happy camper at our Wangaratta Carer meeting – their person with a disability had never received any funding in the past, their plan was completed by an NDIA planner that was approved and implemented in three working days. This situation would be ideal for all our families.

I raise these issues with you in good faith, knowing you will consider our carers’ concerns with respect, and inform those you know, who will be able to move these issues forward and can make the necessary improvements. It is our intention that this information be used to improve transition and ensure these situations not occur again to other families in the future nor in the next rural area to launch the NDIS.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to your timely response.

Yours Sincerely

Sally Martin Coordinator Carers and Parents Support Group Inc.