NDIS around the traps

Finding Your Way

Those who work in the National Disability Insurance Office will tell you the ndis is about participants making choices around their own supports, but what does this really mean? As you plan your ndis journey you will enter via different gates, undergo meeting different criteria until you sit face to face or on the other end  of a telephone line and the planner asks 'What are you goals?'

'Umm . . . I am here to talk about my support needs (or child's), please explain?

If you have been planning to transition to the ndis you will know your ndis plan and what it looks like is determined by your goals and how you want to achieve them. In other words what  do you want your day to day life to look like; what activities do you want to undertake and what assistance will you need. When we look at activities under the ndis we're not looking at physio from service BBB or one on one support for in-home care with services X and Y.

The types of supports you can choose your service providers for is now dependent on an outcome of your choices. 

I don't know maybe go camping with my scouts group?  But I need my support worker Jane to take me to do my shopping, make sure that goes in my plan.

Your ndis plan is much boarder than that, who supports you to do a particular activity - like getting ready for school is now your choice. You can continue to use service BBB for all your support needs or use a number of providers.  What your ndis plan determines is:

• Types of support you can access e.g. centre-based care and mobility equipment.
• A dollar amount you can spend on each type or types of support.  i.e. Your plan budget.  e.g $5 000 for Improved daily Living,  $22 000 for assisted technology, $60,000 for 'core supports, assisted daily living, centre and social activities, respite care and one to one supports.
• How your plan is managed - ndia; someone else or yourself. 

These are determine by your ndis goals, how you want to participate in the community and what support you need; and lastly how you make that all happen.  Somehow the ndis comes up with a bunch of numbers as above.

Goals or the things you want to do can involve: sport, arts and craft, school, entertainment, building social or life skills, education and training, where you live, music, learning to use public transport, training and work, community groups, and making friendships. So your ndis pathway goes from making very board choices, like social participation in the community through establishing friendship.  You want to do that through accessing a service provider that offers community access; centre based activities; and social group based activities.

Once this goal is established and you tell your planner how you need help, then you can choose the service you want to use.  For many participants, especially those who have never access services before this is where the confusion starts and the participants aren't the only ones confused. Those who will assist them like ndis staff, support coordination services, CEO's of support services and those at customer service level are also confused.

I have been participating in the ndis for the last 18 months, and was pretty confident when I headed off to my planning meeting and it ran pretty much the way I expected.  When I received my plan basically the only thing I understood was my goals.  My LAC hand me a price guide, point out the supports I could purchase and said go to services and make a service agreement. 

I had no idea what 30 hours a week one on one support cost.  I didn't know if my budget was less than that or more.  

Will $ 7000 buy you a new chair my LAC asked,  

I don't know . . . I guess, I replied  . . . 

Well, let's just say I wasn't in the ball park and for that budget item I could ask for more.  And I'm still waiting on an answer. 

In terms of my new chair my biggest regret is who I chose to deliver my therapy support.  Well in looking for this type of service I had no idea where to look.  I knew I wanted week physio, hydro therapy and needed an OT to prescribe a wheelchair.  Someone else was looking at a service and another colleague use the same provider for his chair and it worked out well for him. 

However, I am still waiting.  So I want to be upfront what has worked for me, might not work for you.  I made the same choice as my friend and asked for near identical chairs through the same physio and he has his about 12 months ago and I am still waiting. 

Go Figure That One Out!

To work with any ndis provider you will need to sign a service agreement. This is a document much like a contract of a builder for you new house. 

• It sets out the service(s) you are purchasing e.g. associated technology assessment, prescription and assessment of purchase of a power chair. 
• The providers responsibilities
• Your responsibilities
• If its a service it will have an agreed number of hours and  quote for those hours.

As part of any service agreement you agree to make a service booking through the ndis portral and that amount of money can only be spent on that item number.  Who physically does this depends on who is managing you plan. 

No where in the service agreement I have do they need to state how many staff they have; waiting times or the capacity to provide the service and yet I need to ensure I can pay. If I known that one therapist covered the whole of SouthEast Queensland and there would be arguing over the chairs function and cost, I would of chosen a service who had more staff. 

Today was the fourth service agreement I have signed with that provider.  I had to sign to be able to access any information I need regarding the application under review by the ndia.  If I didn't I just sit tight.  

In the mainstream I book an appointment say podiatrist and pay for my visit.  I can call any time if I need to ask a quick question. I do not know why I can not do that if I have no agreed service agreement. 

I am self-managing my ndis plan which gives me the option of seeing a private ot to prescribe equipment.  There is no service agreements requirement.  The ndis does not require service agreements, these are an organisational requirement to secure payments.