In this edition
- Upcoming Training
- Evidence Centred Approaches to Service Delivery
- NDIS New Regulatory Tool – Enforceable Actions
- Interim and Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan Checklists
- NDIS Review Interim Report – What we have heard report
Upcoming Training
We’re thrilled to announce our upcoming interactive online training workshops, presented by our incredible Technical Manager, Patty Wassenaar.
If you’re looking to stay ahead in the NDIS landscape, these workshops are tailor-made for you! Each workshop will dive deep into NDIS-related topics, offering practical knowledge and strategies to help you thrive in your role. Some of these are almost booked out, so be quick!
Take a look below to see what we have on offer!
1. NDIS Incident Management Essentials
24 August 2023 – 10am – 12pm AEST
Register Here
2. Understanding NDIS Registration Groups
24 August 2023 – 1pm – 3pm AEST
Register Here
Evidence Matters – Evidence Centred Approaches to Service Delivery
Evidence centered approaches to service delivery use a framework that focuses on the use of empirical evidence and data insights to inform decision making to improve the design, implementation, and evaluation of service delivery.
The NDIS Commission have produced a collection of resources called Evidence Matters that aims to promote the use of evidence-informed practices to support NDIS providers to achieve compliance with their obligations under the NDIS legislation.
Presently the Evidence Matters collection includes the following resources:
- An Evidence-Informed Practice Guide which provides guidance on ways to ensure practice is evidence-informed.
- Organisational Approaches to Reducing Restrictive Practice
- Developing Quality Behaviour Support Plans literature summary that identifies aspects of quality behaviour support plans developments
- Medications for behaviours of concern for people with Autism
Overall, evidence-centered approaches, as shown by the NDIS Commission’s Evidence Matters collection, are essential for ensuring that service delivery is based on reliable data and insights, leading to better outcomes for participants and greater accountability for service providers.
We encourage all NDIS providers to have a look at the evidence matters resources as they are valuable tools for NDIS providers to enhance their practices and ensure compliance with NDIS legislation.
NDIS New Regulatory Tool – Enforceable Actions
The NDIS Commission have recently announced the first use of a new regulatory tool against an NDIS provider called an Enforceable Action. An Enforceable Action is a legally binding agreement between the Commission and the provider that outlines specific actions the provider commits to undertake to rectify issues of non-compliance with the law.
This approach is seen as an alternative to heavier compliance actions, such as court proceedings or banning orders and can be used in circumstances when providers are committed and willing to work with the Commission to address compliance issues and ensure the ongoing delivery of safe and quality services for NDIS participants.
The use of the Enforceable Action as a regulatory tool showcases a collaborative and preventative approach to addressing non-compliance issues, while also encouraging providers to proactively address and rectify such issues themselves.
In a commitment to transparency and accountability, details of compliance and enforceable actions against individuals and providers are published on the NDIS Commission’s website.
We encourage all NDIS providers to have an understanding of the NDIS Commission’s Regulatory Approach targeted at ensuring the quality and safety of services delivered to NDIS participants.
We are the go-to consultant NDIS providers approach when they are experiencing compliance issues, and also for providers who wish to be proactive in this space. We are proud of our integrity and technical expertise. You can trust us to be your compliance partner. If you are in need of support in the areas of quality management or compliance please contact us on 0478 616 207 or info@engelsfloyd.com for a complimentary confidential consultation.
Interim and Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan Checklists
The NDIS Commission as released two new Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan Checklists Comprehensive Behaviour Support Plan Checklists that outline good practice and the conditions of registration that apply to specialist behaviour support providers when developing behaviour support plans.
Although the resources are optional, we encourage NDIS providers to review the quality of their behaviour support plans against these checklists.
NDIS Review Interim Report – What we have heard report
On 30 June 2023 the NDIS Commission issued an Interim Report on the ongoing review of the NDIS providing a summary of the key issues that have been identified in the review.
The Report raises 10 important issues that the community has identified:
- The planning process is difficult and stressful for participants.
- Support for people with disability is not planned, funded or governed as a whole ecosystem.
- Many people do not understand what reasonable and necessary means leading to complexity, confusion, conflict and inconsistency.
- Children and their families do not get the support they need to reach their goals and be part of the community.
- NDIS markets are not working, and many participants cannot find services they need.
- Better measurement of outcomes and performance would help participants make informed choices, keep providers and government accountable, and make sure the scheme is sustainable.
- There is a lack of focus on achieving long term outcomes relating to participation, inclusion in communities and employment.
- The roles of different support people are confusing. For example, plan managers and support coordinators.
- Lack of innovation in housing and living supports with many participants not having much choice about where or how they live.
- Improvements to systems are required to increase safeguards for all participants, while making sure they can still have choice and control.
The report has distilled these issues into five key challenges that will be considered in the review. These include:
- Why is the NDIS seen as the only means of support for people with disability (oasis in the desert)?
- What does reasonable and necessary mean?
- Why are there many more children in the NDIS than expected?
- Why aren’t NDIS markets working?
- How do we ensure the NDIS is sustainable?
We encourage NDIS providers to contribute to this very important process by submitting your views and potential solution on the issues identified. This can be done by filling out an Online Survey by 25 August 2023.
