We know what it takes to ensure that our customers are satisfied. We have the knowledge and experience to ensure that you meet the desired results of the NDIS. Plan administrators should work with you to reduce any chance of overspending on the plan. This will involve the periodic submission of reports on the budgets managed by the plan, as described in the NDIS Guide to Plan Management.
To prepare for your planning meeting, think about your current supports and who is providing them, and what supports and services you might need to achieve your goals. To successfully offer and improve the NDIS, we need the input, experience and advice of participants, their families and caregivers, providers, the disability sector and the community. The NDIS provides funding to people with disabilities who qualify so that they can spend more time with family and friends, have greater independence, access to new skills, jobs or volunteer work in their community, and improve their quality of life. Support coordinators play a key role in the implementation of the National Disability Insurance Plan (NDIS), helping people to implement their plans and to exercise choice and control over the supports and services they choose.
They are also vital supports to help ensure the funding you need to achieve the goals of your plan, as well as achieve better results and greater independence. However, as we all know, support coordinators and their clients can take every step to ensure funding and may not yet be counted by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). What should support coordinators do to help their clients make the best case for increased funding? And if you don't succeed or your funding is cut back, what happens next and how can an excellent support coordinator help you get back on the path to success? We invited one of the members of our support coordinator's editorial panel, Zena Dyson of Esteem Care Services, to discuss this important topic. Here's what I had to say.
The participant can proactively help themselves get the funding they need by asking their family doctor, specialists, related health professionals or any other service related to their disability for current reports, letters of recommendation or test results that demonstrate their inability to complete their tasks of daily living. To help my clients obtain the funding they need to achieve their NDIS objectives, I encourage them to gather all the correct and relevant evidence directly related to their disabilities and their combined NDIS objectives. To do this, I advise my clients on what they need to share with their health professionals and service providers for better results. If the participant does not have the capacity to do so, I ask him if he wants him to attend appointments with him, if he wants him to write down the information to give it to his service providers, or if he wants him to send an email to all his service providers with the correct information required to obtain the best results.
Service providers can help their customers present their strongest arguments in favor of supports and funding by providing them with comprehensive reports and recommendations to obtain more funding for their customers' NDIS supports. I also expect service providers to relate their reports directly to the client's NDIS objectives. I always make sure that I have communicated the client's NDIS objectives to all their service providers, so that they can better help our mutual customers achieve their objectives. Communication between my customers' support providers and me is a fundamental key to ensuring the best funding results for all customers.
I have established wonderful working relationships, particularly with many of Carers QLD's local area coordinators (LAC), from Rockhampton to the Gold Coast, to the point where they contact me and refer me to many references from NDIS participants to coordinate support. The biggest mistake participants make is filling out the NDIS access request form and submitting it themselves, or asking for help from people who don't know what is required and submitting it without any proof to support their needs related to their disabilities. These requests for access generally come from the NDIA without approval or with the least amount of funding to help the participant achieve their NDIS objectives. To avoid making this mistake, participants should request help applying for the NDIS from an NDIS partner in the community, such as Carers QLD, or from a support coordinator who is willing to help with this process, such as me.
If a customer receives their plan from the NDIS and doesn't agree with it, it's up to their support coordinator to challenge the plan with supporting evidence for review. The participant has three months to do so. If this doesn't work and the NDIA disapproves any changes, the next step is to take it to court. It's very frustrating to see a family suffer and struggle because their child with disabilities doesn't have the help of support workers, especially when parents work full time or don't have the capacity to meet the daily needs of their children due to their own disabilities.
Many customers have asked me for help because they have submitted their request for access to the NDIS and have been denied access to the NDIS, usually because there is no evidence in the request. I then helped the client collect all the correct evidence and helped him to re-apply. They then received approval for access and obtained their first plan from the NDIS. The only time I've seen a dramatic reduction in funding is when the participant didn't use those particular funds before reviewing their plan.
In this case, I agree that their funding should be cut if they simply refuse to receive support services and do not use their funds. I believe that the NDIS is sustainable if the NDIA ensures that all participants only receive the funds that are absolutely necessary to support their disabilities and the goals of the NDIS. I have seen some cases in the media in which the NDIA has cracked down on fraud and has denounced people who have been exploiting funding from the NDIS and participants, and I agree with the Labour Party that reducing excessive costs and cracking down on fraud is right and justifiable. These are the kinds of things that will ruin the NDIS for participants with disabilities who absolutely need it.
Therefore, “nipping it in the bud” is now the right and right way to maintain the sustainability of the NDIS. I would say that's a fantastic statistic, if correct. As a support coordinator, I see the enormous differences that the NDIS creates for people with disabilities and their families. I have seen clients go from being hermits to extroverted members of the community who are now enjoying their lives, which would be impossible without support services funded by the NDIS.
You may be asked to share your recent experience with the NDIS during access, pre-planning, planning, or when using the new portal for participants in my NDIS. This means that we have been verified by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and can request our invoices directly from the NDIS. This framework tracks the progress of participants during their time at the NDIS by asking questions about how their lives have changed in areas such as daily life, choice and control, health and well-being, relationships, community participation, work and learning. If you are not satisfied with the quality or safety of the NDIS supports and services, your support coordinator can also help you file a complaint with the NDIS Commission.
The answers, which are kept anonymous to protect the identity of NDIS participants, help the NDIA to understand how the NDIS is making a tangible difference in people's lives and, at the same time, to identify areas for improvement within the Program. .
