NDIA Accountability Project

Daughter's care impacted by provider registration restrictions

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track No. 1) Bill 2024

Submission 295

My name is . I am the mother of who is an NDIS participant acquired several complex disabilities after two strokes in 2014. She was 28 and it has been a steep learning curve since!

  needed 24/7 care, at first leaving hospital to enter aged care.

As we were in an NDIS trial site, she was able to come home to our place with NDIS funding for support workers. She went from two support workers in the morning to one and active nights to sleepovers. She eventually went to live in SDA accommodation. She is an NDIS self provider for SDA.

 now has 24/7 care, some shared care from 6pm - 8am every day.

I wish to address the proposal to only allow NDIS participants to use registered providers. uses registered providers for her care needs. She has had some horrible experiences with registered providers. She has also had to suffer the failure of her neighbour’s registered provider, failing to prevent their client from setting their SDA home on fire. and her other neighbour had to be evacuated! Registered providers are not necessarily the best choice for NDIS participants. Providers are complacent enough, without the added empowerment of having less competition, by removing the choice of unregistered providers! has had staff leave shifts early, walk out because they couldn’t, or made no attempt to, understand her, leaving her alone, having to call her parents to step in, abuse her, belittle her, ignore her, fail to turn up for shifts, leave shifts unfilled or lacking the skills to PEG feed or adequately meet her care requirements! Her parents have had to be on call and ready to step in. Providers fail to send rosters, force split shifts which don’t work when she has appointments, and just not fill shifts! NDIS participants deserve the dignity of being able to choose who provides their intimate and personal care! At the moment, is happy with her registered and unregistered providers, but she wants the choice to decide who works with and for her. Thankyou.