6 Speak Out
August 2014
Speech Pathology Australia
association news
Further roll out
The NDIS
has now celebrated its first birthday and continues
to roll out across the nation. While there have been ‘rumblings’
about potential delays to its implementation, so far at least
these haven’t been confirmed, and the further roll-outs that
were scheduled have commenced.
In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) early intervention is the
first service area to be transitioned, with children under two years
of age moving across between July and September 2014, and
children aged two to four years of age and not starting school in
2015 able to transition between October and December 2014.
The ACT government is one of those which has legislated to
withdraw from service provision for people with disabilities, and
members alerted us prior to the commencement of concerns
about availability of alternative providers. The ACT government
has subsequently provided $1 million worth of sector
development funding to twenty disability service providers
including the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Koomarri and Canberra
Men’s Centre to help prepare for the NDIS.
In the Northern Territory, the roll-out for an estimated 150
participants in the Barkly region is being viewed as an
opportunity to learn about service provision in rural and remote
areas and particularly for indigenous people with disabilities.
In Western Australia, the Shire of Kalamunda, Shire of Mundaring
and City of Swan will be included in the roll-out. People who are
currently registered with My Way/Local Area Coordination (LAC)
will be invited to become NDIS participants in the first year of
the trial and will be gradually brought into the Scheme based on
location, providing they meet the access requirements. People
receiving other Disability Service Commission (DSC) funded
supports that are not connected to LAC will be invited to become
participants from April 2015 to February 2016. This will begin
with people receiving services in the City of Swan followed by the
Shire of Kalamunda and the Shire of Mundaring.
In the existent trial sites the Scheme is being expanded
geographically (Barwon and Hunter) or into further
age groups (Tasmania, South Australia). Further details
about the roll-out are available on the NDIS website at
.
NDIS reports
The NDIS releases quarterly reports tracking performance
against key performance indicators. These reports include
financial and other information, including things such as
satisfaction levels of participants and funds allocated vs funds
spent. It was interesting to note in the most recent report that
‘communication’ was the most commonly funded support
category, followed by self care and community participation.
Unfortunately, we don’t really have any prior data to compare
with, but it is encouraging to see that communication
continues to be recognised by participants as an important
domain requiring supports to enhance participation.
Changes to pricing and supports
The NDIS has provided a range of webinars, which they
publicise in their updates and newsletters, and which can be
subscribed to via the website. The most recent webinar was
linked with a review of pricing and a change in some of the
policies and processes, outlined at
/
Although the focus was on the pricing
of non ‘therapeutic’ supports, it did include information that
NDIS prices will be adjusted annually to reflect indexation
changes, which is reflected in the pricing lists on the website.
Some changes have been instituted to the cancellation policy,
making it possible for providers to claim from the NDIS for
late cancellations or ‘no-shows’, but this doesn’t extend to the
provision of therapeutic supports – so for speech pathologists
and other allied health providers, charges for these continue
to be included as part of the ‘private’ relationship with
participants to be included in the agreement about the service
delivery arrangements negotiated with participants.
There have also been changes instituted to how participants
are able to use their funding, with some supports being
designated as ‘flexible’. These changes will only apply to
new plans and plans that are being reviewed after 1 July
2014. Participants will be provided with information about the
changes when they get their new plan, but at the moment it is
a little unclear what the impact may be for providers.
Workforce mini-projects
Speech Pathology Australia has provided input to two workforce
related mini-projects. The first of these was looking at the role of
support workers, including Allied Health Assistants, and provided
an opportunity to comment on a range of issues, including:
•
Communication Assistants as an ‘emerging role’
•
The importance of ‘generic’ training for support workers
about dysphagia and the role of speech pathologists
•
The scope of senior support worker and allied health
assistant roles and their relationship with allied health
professions.
The second project focused on Allied Health Education and
Training to work within the new NDIS context. Input provided
included:
•
The importance of supporting development of
competencies on a continuum, including in the existent
workforce
•
The opportunity and value of working with existent forums
such as the Heads of Department groups within the
professional organisations
•
Potential impacts of the NDIS on availability of student
placements within the disability sector, and need for the
NDIS to consider supports or incentives to ensure that
these continue to be available
National Disability Insurance Scheme news
