a. the transition to a market based system for service providers a. This will only work if NDIS plans are all Planned Managed or Self-Managed as not enough providers registered to cover the needs of clients b. Compulsory Continually Professional Development in areas such as mental health, drug and alcohol, co-morbidity. a. Example is of a disability service who care for a woman with an intellectual disability as well as Schizophrenia. As the staff do not have training in mental health they are continually sending this woman to hospital to be ’stabilised’ before allowing her to come home. This is unethical and not in the best interests of the client. The manager of the service has advised she will not be having her staff trained in mental health issues as this is not their concern.

b. participant readiness to navigate new markets a. The NDIS is not taking into consideration that a lot of participants will not or cannot navigate new markets. Many Mental Health clients will refuse to access services directly due to their distrust of any government related services. The NDIS believes that with time this will change. This may not be the case and some clients will always need support coordination to access and maintain their supports. b. Navigation of services is hard enough for service providers and would be near impossible for most clients of the NDIS. c. Too many clients are sent their plans and told to get services in place. I have a number of clients who I began working with when they were 6-9 months into their plans and had not used the plans because they did not know where to look for services. The NDIS is thinking too simplicity in relation to how their participants see the NDIS and how their plans work. d. The NDIS staff are not adequately trained in the varying needs of clients and that clients are all different even if they have the same disability or mental health illness.

c. the development of the disability workforce to support the emerging market a. This is not happening quick enough to meet the participant’s needs. Many services have long waiting lists. A lot of NGO’s are not doing what they are required to especially in relation to Support Coordination. Also due to EBA’s most services will only send someone out for a minimum of 2 hours (some clients may only need 20-30 mins). This means the client is charged for 2 hours work whether needed or not b. There are some services who will only do a minimum of 3 hours for 20-30 mins work. The system needs to encourage permanent staff rather than all casual staffing.

c.

This also needs to include mental health and co-morbidity as the NDIS is not just for people with a ‘disability’. The NDIS is still does not have an understanding of the complexities of mental illness. This is concerning as it impacts significantly on the client. I have seen planners sit there while a client is having a melt down and inform them that it’s ok they understand. I have also seen planners sit in a meeting with an obviously delusional client who is telling them they have a job with a major car company and this includes overseas travel and states to the client that they will not need a plan as they are doing so well. This had to go to senior management as the planner would not or could not see what was happening. They did not understand what paranoid schizophrenia was and how it impacts on a client’s life. They also would believe that someone with a diagnosis would not believe they had a diagnosis as with this client who had no insight into their illness or the impact on their life. Unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence as I work with many people who have a mental illness.

Continuing professional development needs to be a criteria for registration. As a social worker I need to be an accredited social worker with the AASW to be registered and this means a minimum of 50 hours of CPD per year and as I am also looking at mental health accreditation this will increase to 70 hours per year. Professionals understanding of the differences is imperative for the longevity of service provision

e. Planners often tell people to go and get these from their GP and when they see their GP are told they are not eligible because they don’t meet the criteria this is especially for people who don’t have a chronic illness.
f. The public system is at crisis point and will not take someone who has the NDIS as it is a belief that all their services can be received through their plan.
e. the role of the NDIA as a market steward
- a. The NDIA is not a very good market steward and there is not a solid base for their monitoring of service provision.
- b. This needs to be improved quite substantially as I don’t believe it is being done appropriately or effectively at this time.
f. market intervention options to address thin markets, including in remote Indigenous communities
- a. To increase access for remote communities including Aboriginal communities you will need to allow service providers to claim for travel and accommodation so they can access these locations.
- b. Thin markets are currently in cities in Australia which is concerning and not being addressed. Many providers do not want to spend hours applying for registration. This is where I hope the new registration process beginning in July 2018 will minimise the work needed to become a registered provider.
- c. The NDIS needs to be a truly national system with no state or territory say in how it is run. Currently the main issue is that the states and territories are having too much of a say and if a client moves interstate can lose a lot of what they had in another place or they can have the reverse go from having very little to have a lot more.
g. the provision of housing options for people with disability, with particular reference to the impact of Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) supports on the disability housing market
- a. This is the most confusing part of the NDIS. You are told you can register as a support coordinator for SDA but there is no option to do this.
- b. SDA need to be for individuals and currently the only SDA’s are for 2-3 people to live in the one home.
- c. Assessment for this is impossible in most circumstances to meet. When you contact the NDIA for information they refer you to the guidelines online. This is not helpful as this is why you are calling them.
- d. I have several clients who on paper meet the guidelines for SDA but the NDIS found them not suitable.
- e. Share accommodation is not always a good option for people who require an SDA and this is the only option being allowed by the NDIS at this time.

h.

the impact of the Quality and Safeguarding Framework on the development of the market

a. Once this is done naturally through the NDIA it will hopefully improve the situation. Currently each state and territory doing this is not adequate for a superior quality service to clients.

b. Services are not willing to spend the time on the registration process that is currently in place and is state/territory based

c. I am currently going through the process of re-registering as I have reverted back to a sole trader. This is an onerous task and has to start from the beginning. This means that for the last 10 weeks I have not been able to claim for the clients I have been working with for over 2 years as a sole trader. Then there will be the process of transferring from my partnership to sole trader despite the name of the business not changing. There is money owing for clients from the NDIS under the partnership which is yet to be paid. It is unlikely that I will be paid (except for PMA clients) for several months to come. This is frustrating and not necessary and could have been done more efficiently.

i.

provider of last resort arrangements, including for crisis accommodation

a. I just find this impossible to understand. Listed providers usually have no idea that they are listed as a ‘provider of last resort arrangements’ when you call them.

j.

any other related matters

a. Registration is not an easy process and I hope this will change with the implementation of the national quality assurance commencing in July 2018. Change over from partnership to sole trader or vice versus is a complete new application and is not appropriate for the owner of the business or the clients.

b. The NDIS legislation is fantastic however the number of interpretations of this legislation equals the number of staff members of the NDIA. This needs to change.

c. Monitoring of support coordinators is imperative as currently many services are not following the guidelines as set out by the NDIS. I transferred one client to a service with 9 hours left of support coordination and they closed after the transfer as they stated not enough hours left to ask for a review. I found this to be completely unethically and ridiculous as more than enough hours to complete a review document for this client.

d. The legislation is great however there are too many interpretations of the legislation at the moment which makes it impossible to function as it should. I hope that this will change when we can truly make the NDIS a national scheme.

e. Acknowledging the LGBTIQ+ communities in Australia through proactive engagement with services who support the LGBTIQ+. Providing links to these services in each state and territory. Currently the NDIS does not actively advertise and support these services and the needs of the LGBTIQ+ people.

Lack of transport options for clients who are unable to get public transport and don’t have their own transport.

Service providers not supporting clients appropriately and this is meaning that support coordinators are having much more to do to ensure participants get the best service provision

Support Coordination needs to be included in all plans at least 1 hour per fortnight. Many clients are being taken advantage of because no one there to support them in the process of gaining service provision. It is imperative that support coordination be changed to case management as many clients need this assistance to gain the appropriate supports.

Many clients are not accessing plans because they have no support coordination and told to go and get services for themselves. This is even happening with LAC’s who have little or no understanding of the capacity of the person involved. j.

Please change the name of the Plan Manager to Finance Manager or similar because participants think this is another name for a support coordinator.

Challenges in NDIS Service Provision and Market Development

Submission by Michel Hansen (Accredited Social Worker of the AASW) owner of Making Connections Together

c.

h.

i.

j.