NDIS and Coronavirus FAQs

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Peter Tully
Thank you Sarah. Then my final question is for Scott and it comes from Gary. “How come it takes so long for the NDIA people to give an approval for equipment purchases? The OT has done their bit, and I’ve done my bit, and all the paperwork required is in order. Why does it take so long?”

Scott McNaughton
Thanks Peter. And thanks for your question, Gary. Obviously I don’t know the individuals of your circumstances but happy to get your details and follow them up. So I’ll work with Kirsten on that.

Just at a high level though we’ve been doing a lot of work on assistive technology based on the feedback exactly like that Gary that it’s just been people experiencing delays. It’s taking too long for them to access their assistive technology even for smaller amounts of assistant technology. We put in place well over a year ago now that participants can use up to $1500 without having to purchase without having to get quotes for the AT items, their low cost AT items. And we’ve been making some more changes for AT items up to the value of $5,000 as well. So that’s been an important change. We’ve put in additional staff to help clear through all those requests. We want to make sure we’re able to get people’s AT out to them quickly. Now, some are more complex than others, of course, and do require quite specific types of assessments from Occupational Therapists, similar with home modifications and others. So sometimes it does take a bit of time to get the right assessments and paperwork done. So we’re trying to work our way through that as quickly as we can. But also trying to make it as flexible for participants to get their low cost AT themselves without having to get lots of quotes and things. And they can work with their providers to do that quite quickly, and quite simply. So we are hoping Gary that these wait times have now been reduced. But I’m happy to follow up your specific circumstances with Kirsten and the team out of session too.

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Dave
I wanted to ask about the information Sarah, you were giving about some of the improvements and performance – goal improvements, things have happened during the life of the scheme. And I’m wondering how likely it is for participants to start seeing a bit of a push for, you know, some kind of goal attainment or, you know, some kind of performance measure before future funding will be granted. Or maybe to say that more simply, will we have to show that we’ve achieved our goals in the first plan to get funding our second plan? Thanks.

Sarah Johnson
Thanks for your question, Dave. I think there’s probably a number of ways in which to think about your question. So as you know, we do have goals in plans – can everyone hear me at the moment? [Nodding] Yes?

Kirsten Deane
Yes, we can.

Sarah Johnson
Alright, sorry I just had something flash up on my screen that said tech support. And I thought, oh, uh-oh, could have a problem.

Sorry, to head back to your question on goals. As you know, in the plans, people put down as many goals as they would like in that plan and the planner works through reasonable and necessary supports for that person to help in achieving those goals. At the Scheme we would like to start understanding the extent to which our participants are achieving their goals, but it has not been a prerequisite to achieve goals to get funding in, in, in future plans. That’s not the way in which we’re, we’re thinking about it. But we would like to understand the extent to which people do manage to meet their goals in particular, then we can analyse all of that information to get a much better understanding of what’s working well, and what might not be working as well. So if certain service providers, particular models of support, etc, are really working well and getting people good outcomes. And we want to be able to share that information. To the extent to which we can understand which participants and how they’re meeting their goals is just really useful in terms of building on everyone managing to achieve their goals and get better outcomes. I think it’s important we collect the information. It’s clear what a person’s goals are in their plan, and then the reasonable and necessary supports in the plan are clear. But no, we don’t expect you to meet your goals necessarily. Then that future funding, that will then depend on the reasonable and necessary support requirements for that future plan. Does that help Dave with your question?

Kirsten Deane
I think Dave’s still got himself on mute. I will jump in and say thanks, yeah, thanks Sarah.

Dave
Absolutely, great. Thank you. Sorry, yep.

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Clare 
My question is, how does the Agency see micro-enterprise and self-employment fitting into the employment strategy? It’s not specifically mentioned in the price guides. But, you know, it’s actually probably more so now that jobs are drying up. How do they see that fitting into and being supported by the NDIS in an employment strategy?

Scott McNaughton 
Thanks, Clare. Great question, Scott here, I’ll kick off and Sarah, jump in if you like.

It’s a really, really good question. And when you look at the employment strategy, Clare it really requires a diverse mix of employment options for people with disability to make it work. It has to include small to medium enterprises, it has to include micro-businesses, it has to include self-employment, etc. Relying on just big business to do it just won’t cut it. So we’ve got some really strong corporate targets really around increasing employment outcomes for people with disability within the scheme. Hence the plan. What we’re trying to do with the price guide is to make sure that regardless of the type of work setting a participant is, they can get the support they need in that setting. There’s a whole range of other government programs to help start small businesses and so forth. What we’re trying to make sure we do is price right the supports a person needs in their workplace setting regardless of what that workplace setting is. And if we need we’ll continue to look at this, I guess over the next year or two, because if there are more innovative workplace models and settings emerging, we may need to respond to that. But we’re hoping at the moment it’s really about the supports an individual needs, regardless of where they go to work and what does that look like.

Sarah Johnson 
I might just add too Clare, work is a big part of the outcomes data that I was mentioning earlier in our chat. And we can see that the employment levels are not where we want them to be yet. We’ve got targets of increasing them from where they are now. So I would also just encourage people to look at some of the data out there, which is sort of talking about the paths to employment people have now, and start thinking about better ways in which we can get participant’s into work. As Scott mentioned, we made some changes to the way that we’re funding it. So it is more flexible for a variety of different work arrangements. Um, so we’re hoping that’s one way in which we can get more people with a disability employed.

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Heather
What happened to three way meetings and draft plans? I haven’t heard of anyone being offered this option. And you know, why does Stuart Robert announce these things? Yet no action is taken? It’s like the core and capacity building funding that was meant to be interchangeable, he announced in November. And I know you’ve addressed that. But you get our hopes up and we think, ‘oh, this is great’. And then we’re still waiting six months, eight months later. So yeah, I just wanted to know, is that going to become a reality? And if so, when? Thanks.

Scott McNaughton 47:30
Yeah, thanks, Heather. Good question. We actually commenced – we – it’s called the three way planning meetings. We call them joint planning. We actually started the trial of this in Robina in Southeast Queensland. We kicked it off earlier this calendar year and we started getting some really positive results out of it. And the concept for those that are not familiar with it is the conversation is between the Local Area Coordinator, the agency planner, and of course the participant, and whoever they choose to be with them. And what it does, it puts all the parties in the room at the same time. We go through, look at the plan, make sure it’s fit for purpose, make sure it includes all of the key supports the person requires. It’s covered off the goals and aspirations well. We talk about the plan and the implementation, the next steps. And we we’re getting really high levels of being able to approve that plan in that meeting. And that was something we were trialling. Unfortunately, Heather COVID came along and we had to stop all face to face planning or most of face to face planning moved to phone based planning. Um, so we are looking, when do we start to recommence that? When is it safe to do so? When are we going to see more people comfortable coming out and having face to face planning meetings again? It was certainly something that is in the Minister’s plan. The Minister had announced that launch of this and so on. And it included what we call the draft plan summary, which a participant was able to get an early copy of their draft plan summary, after their first interaction with their Local Area Coordinator, they had time to look at that, reflect on it, and then bring that into the joint planning meeting. So it was unfortunately derailed a little bit because of COVID. And we’re now looking at what’s next in terms of recommencing that within Queensland or alike. So we haven’t made decisions on that yet. We’re just considering the timing of it.

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Wendy 
I’ve got to say I’m yet to have a positive interaction with the NDIS. I’ve been made ill with one nightmare after another. One of the things in particular that intrigues me is why it is that it’s acceptable for the NDIS to send out official formal correspondence signed off with only a given name, and sometimes only part of a given name. I’ve spoken to a couple of Directors at NDIS, who’ve given me various reasons for this, but mostly they talk about the privacy and protection of NDIS staff. As a child protection worker, I’m required to give my full name including middle names to families that I’m working with, where they would naturally feel under threat. Similarly would be police. And yet, I can wait three months for a reply to a letter. It can be signed off by someone called Joe, or Sue, or Pat, or Chris, where I’ve got no way of knowing their surname, no way, of contacting them. And if I persist I might well be told, well there’s three Sue’s at this office. So why is it acceptable to send out official correspondence with no more than a first name or part of the first name? No contact details, no surname? Nothing. Why is that okay?

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, Wendy, thanks for your question and your feedback, and apologies that you haven’t had the experience that certainly we expect to that standard. So, you know, my apologies for that.

In terms of our correspondence – so my full name goes out on lots of letters for people and so it should. When an individual staff member or Local Area Coordinator issues a letter or correspondence, what we encourage them to do is put their full first name and their first initial of their surname, and then within our business system, within our ICT system, that is what we call an interaction record. So if anyone rings and says I spoke to Scott, we know through the process, we can track quite easily who that person was. Our national contact centre can do that. So if that’s not been your experience, I’m happy just to make sure and reinforce that practice, because that’s what we’ve agreed. And I’m happy to take that on Wendy to make sure that that’s happening. I’ve certainly seen it happen on some of the letters that I’ve reviewed recently. But clearly it hasn’t happened in your experience Wendy, so I’ll take that on and make sure that that practice is reinforced and being followed.

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Karen 53:03
Yeah, my question is, I’m a support coordinator in WA, and you know often have to ring the 1800 number for a number of issues. Um, problem I always have it’s like it, it’s a telephone call, like the black – my question goes into the black hole at the NDIS basically. Nobody is ever able to give me a definitive answer. And always say to me, I’ll escalate this to you know, the specific team. And then I spend so much time calling again and again just to try to find a definitive answer. And you know, this is time and money really that the NDIS is spending, you know, as me as a Support Coordinator, as you know, supporting my clients. However, you know, some of the people haven’t got support coordination in their plan. And we are dealing with vulnerable people. You know, which again, you know, it’s a vulnerable person calling the NDIS and they get this response all the time. It just leaves them feeling hopeless and not being able to move forward.

Scott McNaughton 
Karen, thanks, thanks for your question and feedback. Obviously, what we’re trying to do is create the opportunity for participants and support coordinators and providers to have their key questions answered by our national contact centre. Where they are more complex or challenging, there will be a referral point into our Local Area Coordinator or to our escalation team within our service delivery staff.

Also, we really want to make sure I think too Karen, is making available frequently asked questions, good clarity around common questions, where you can get lots of information on our website, etc, because there’s a lot of information there. And so if there’s things – I’d be really interested Karen, you can shoot me an email about the sorts of queries that you’re raising that you’re not able to get answers to. Are they around pricing, around plans, around progress, etc. So, because we’re always trying to update our website and our comms to make sure that that level of information is available for people. So if you’ve got any specifics, you can flick them through to Kirsten and team because that’s something we’re really keen to continue and improve as well.

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Jane 
I’m doing research as well around self-determination. And I was just wondering if you could tell me how the – how you guys actually measure self-determination? Because you did in the 2018 report, but I’d like to know how you actually collect that, you know, how you name that up. More specifically in the 2019 report, please.

Sarah Johnson 
Thanks for your question, Jane. We ask a lot of questions around the topics of self-determination. Obviously, we understand that resilience can be a key factor in participant outcomes, etc. Within the report you can go through and you can look at all the different indicators. There’s some in the relationships domain. There’s others in the health and wellbeing domain around those sorts of self-determination measures, recognising there’s definitely more than one way to look at that.

I also encourage you if you do for your research and need some additional information or data, we do have a specific data request process that you can use. So you can log on, you’ll find it on the data.ndis.gov.au website. It’s a tailored data request form.

And if you look through that outcomes framework with [inaudible] help you with information around self-determination.

Yeah, things like the brief resilience scale and things we have looked at in the past, we didn’t make it as explicit in the 2019 report. But there’s a lot of data there that can be explored.

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Jacqui 58:45
I had several questions that I just rattled off so that they get passed on to the agency following this. That particular one was at my planning meeting – my first ever planning meeting I might add – please take note. First planning meeting since 2016. I hadn’t had one in three years of being on the scheme. Um, I requested a Support Coordinator because I’m struggling with finding services. My disability has been acquired and it’s all new to me. And I was flat out told by my LAC and her manager, who was there at the review meeting in my home, that no. I was just told no. And if a participant requests one because they’re struggling, why are they denied by our partners in our LAC workforce?

Scott McNaughton 
Thanks, thanks for your question too. And, again, it doesn’t sound like the experience that you’ve had over the last little while has been what we would expect. And quite strange, obviously don’t know the ins and outs of the conversation, but support – I think, Sarah correct me here it’s around 40% of participants have support coordination in their plans.

Not everyone needs them of course. A lot of people self-managing don’t need support coordination. And some people are quite comfortable with having either a plan manager and supported by their LAC to help them implement their plan.

But support coordination is there and at different levels for different participants because of the needs that they may have in helping them connect and implement their plans. Some people might only need support coordination for a year or so and then they sort of build their capacity to implement their plans themselves too.

So I’m happy to take your details out of session and follow that up with you if you like. Because it sounds like you know, it’s probably something there that you might need for a period of time and help you connect and get the most out of your plan. And then, you know, we reassess it down the future if it’s working for you. So, and really, that’s the opportunity for support coordination as well. And it doesn’t need to be lifelong for everyone. Some people it will be but some people might need it for short term to get themselves up and running, as I said, so we can follow that up with you out of session.

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Kirsten Deane
So, Leonie asks, um, “I’ve had to pull my son out of all of his group activities. Now he’s at home with us all the time. At the same time, my partner who’s a disability support worker has been made redundant. I’m still working. I understand why the NDIS usually doesn’t allow family members to be paid. But all sorts of criteria are being relaxed at the moment. Is it too much to ask for the NDIA to relax the rules about payment for family members in some situations? For some people, it’s their only option.”

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Kirsten. Thanks Leonie for that question.

I mean, it is a really challenging and unprecedented time as you said, Kirsten. We’ve had to make some adjustments to a number of ways that we’re supporting participants supporting providers so we can make sure that there are enough providers out there to support participants. We have – we have a policy in place as people know that generally we don’t allow for the payment of family members in usual times. But we do have exceptional circumstances that that we do on occasions do that. Currently, there are exceptional circumstances such as health risks, advice of a health professional, there are no other services, we’ve exhausted everything possible. So and, and I’ve actually heard of a couple of cases come across my desk and in just the last week where we’ve gone down that path.

Our main priority is to try and make sure there is enough supply of good support workers that people can choose to use. And this is why we’ve been doing the extra work you would have seen our ‘find a worker’ on our website this week in the various HireUp type companies that are out there who are both looking for additional workers, but are also available there for participants and carers to find workers. And they’re also available for job seekers who may wish to find work themselves. So it’s quite a good matching type service. So I encourage people to check out that ‘find a support worker’.

So first and foremost, our priority is to try and get people access to a support worker who is trained, qualified and can continue to provide those supports. If people are having trouble, their support worker is not available. They’re not turning up, something’s gone wrong. You must, you must escalate that and you must contact the Quality and Safeguards Commission because they’re capturing all that information for us. And then we will – we’ll work through what those options are. Are there other providers? If not, perhaps we’ll go down and look at those exceptional circumstances – we have a couple of times this week.

This is an area we’re watching really closely. If we see big chunks and big areas within the provider market that starts to create gaps, we’re going to think and use other strategies that we’ve already put in place to try and keep building that workforce and make sure that supply of workers is there. So this is on our radar, we’re watching it closely. We’re still only using it for exceptional circumstances at the moment. And we want to stick to that for now. But it is an area we are watching closely. So Leonie I would encourage your partner to get online and connect to one of those other groups who are looking at hiring workers too, because that’s absolutely I know that providers out there are still looking and trying a whole range of options to get more workforce themselves. So I’d encourage you to do that as well. So we’ll stay connected. Any change in that Kirsten, we’ll come back to you guys, of course.

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Kirsten Deane
We’ve been contacted by lots of people whose supports have stopped and so we’ve picked a question from Nerida. Who says, “I live in a small country town. My service provider has let me know that they won’t take me to the nearest biggest town for shopping anymore. Can they do that? And now what can I do?”

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, that’s, that’s a good question, yeah and is a tough one, isn’t it? There’s… a couple of things with this one. Depends on – I guess, if we go back to what the government’s saying around social distancing, and things like that, you have to ask yourself, should people be out there going shopping, if they can do it in another means? So, you know, think about other online shopping and other arrangements and get your essential supplies because your own health and well being is paramount. The most important thing here is to keep yourself well keep yourself safe. And don’t go out if you don’t need to. We hear that from all the politicians a lot. So so please look at the online shopping options and all those things. Of course.

You’re provider though should – you still have to have the conversation with your provider about what is the expected service? What’s that service that they’re meant to be providing? What can they still provide? What are the new and innovative ways they can provide their services in a different way that perhaps they have to think about it, because they can’t do large group outings anymore. We’re hearing lots of those. Because of you know, those day programs where groups of people would go out with providers and do really good and great things outdoors or go to the movies, those things are just not available at the moment. We know that. So we have to think through differently about how that would happen. But if you need your essential services, and you need to go to that town, you need to go there for medical appointments, to chemists, doctors, to get your shopping, then you need to find and contact other providers who will do that for you if you can’t use those online options. So, I mean, the key message for us all here for everyone online is, stay safe. Keep everything you can to maintain social distancing and your own health and wellbeing. If there are online options, please take them up. Because we just want people to be safe and well through this time. When you need to go out you need to have those conversations with providers about what they can do for you.

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Kirsten Deane
Janelle says, “What will happen to my supports if I have to be fully isolated? Or, if I get the virus?” We hope you don’t Janelle. “Will support workers still be allowed to come to my house? Most of my supports are personal care to help me shower, toilet, dress, etc. I don’t have any family or friends who live close enough to help me. I don’t know how I’ll manage if I don’t have a support worker to assist me. Especially if I get sick too.”

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah Janelle, a really good question. This is a real issue, isn’t it? People getting the virus themselves – touch wood, and I hope this is a hypothetical question Janelle and you’re not sick so, but if you are I hope you get well soon.

First and foremost, if someone you know or you think you have the virus, you have to immediately get the health assistance you need. The first and foremost is your health. If you’re not sure about that, get onto all the various Department of Health websites, the corona websites, the 1800 numbers. The National Department of Health has got a Coronavirus hotline, 1800 020 080. We’ll put that up on all those sorts of websites. You’re sure of that already. And if you think it’s an emergency call 000. First and foremost is your health. I must – I can’t stress that enough.

If – and we’ve had this emerge as you as we’d expect, our participants have contracted the virus themselves. Once they’re out or if they need to be hospitalised, they’ll get the treatment they need there. If they come back home to recover in self isolation. We’re working with the providers to make sure that they can still deliver those key supports that providers can access the right PPE equipment they need, that the participants still get the ongoing medical treatment they need, even if they’re at home because they’ve got mild symptoms and they’re self isolating. But – and it’s really important that people continue to self isolate if they’re being told to do so. But there are cases already where we’re working with some big providers, where we know participants have contracted and confirmed cases of contracting the virus, providers are still providing that critical support. In some cases, we’ve had to move a participant out of where they were living into a single accommodation setting and provide new service providers going into that and so we’ve adjusted that person’s plan with some additional funding. We will do that where we need to – you don’t need to worry about that that is a commitment we’re making. If there are urgent plan reviews required because of COVID we’re making those changes. And we just had a pretty difficult case yesterday that we’ve now resolved with that provider by moving the person to a new accommodation on their own with the right support workers, with the right PPE in there supporting him for that period of time. So there are systems in place already, we are working with the providers to make sure they’ve got the PPE equipment they need and there’s a new National Stockpile being delivered out to providers at the moment, which is fantastic, especially for those providers who are delivering daily personal care and all the supports that you’ve listed there Janelle, that’s really important for providers to have access to that equipment. And I just want to go back to the start saying if you are not well and you think you have the virus or you want to get more information, check out those hotlines. Check out those web pages if you can, and if you need health support you need to go and get that that quickly. If your suffering from that. Be rest, rest assured that we will in the Agency change, update, amend people’s plans for whatever additional support they need in like we’ve done with the case I’ve just been talking about. But these are just really trying times and we need to do all we can to make sure people continue to get their supports and continue to get their health supports if they’re unwell because of COVID.

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Kirsten Deane
Our next question is from Kerrie. And you brought up the issue of Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, Scott. The question from Kerrie is “How will the NDIA be ensuring service providers have access to protective equipment such as masks and hand sanitiser?”

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, another another really good question. Thanks, Kerrie. There’s a lot in the media around the PPE equipment at the moment isn’t there and there is a national shortage. That’s, that’s through the media everywhere. I’ve heard this morning that they won’t start up doing any more elective surgery until they can be rest assured there is enough PPE in there for the medical profession. Having said that, we have been able to secure a supply of PPE through a National Stockpile through the Department of Health. This is now in the process of being made available to service providers across the country. We’re going to be prioritising that for service providers who are doing – who either have confirmed cases or are supporting people in accomodation settings, who are providing daily care, personal care, and, and a range of other sort of prioritised access to it. But but because we know there’s not quite enough to go around in the country yet – we know there are new supplies coming on board and making more and more – I just heard, yesterday I think, Cotton On here down in Geelong they’re starting to make and diversify their manufacturing to build to supply more product. So we know it’s coming. But we do have we do have a stockpile. We are getting that out to providers, it will be managed out through the Quality and Safeguards Commission. And we’ll be engaging the logistics company to actually get those equipments out to the front line of our service providers as soon as we possibly can. I understand that’s happening literally as we speak, the distribution of that. Now that might not get full saturation where we want it across the country in the first round. But we continue to source more and more through that process. So it’s better than it was about a week ago. But we’ve still got a bit of work to go to make sure we’ve got enough, everywhere.

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Kirsten Deane 
The next question we’ve got is from Michelle, “My son lives in a group home. We usually use other providers to take him out for community participation, which is NDIS speak for going out. But now the provider run that runs the group home says the other providers can’t come to the house, not even meet him outside, nor can we take him out for physical exercise ourselves. We’re following all the government’s strict guidelines. Why can’t his regular workers come and take him out for exercise and try and keep his life on track while everything is so uncertain? What are your solutions please?”

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, thanks, Michelle. Again, a another difficult one that’s emerging. And we’ve heard that I’ve heard a couple of cases like this. But I’ve also heard of a number of cases where it is a bit of business as usual, which is, which is good in the new world of social distancing, of course. I’ll go back to the point, why service providers, we’ve seen this in aged care as well in terms of limiting visitors into into certain facilities and so forth. But I would have thought in a place you know, in some of the some of what your son’s if your son’s in a home three or four other residents who would normally have access to various programs. Assuming those programs aren’t breaching any sort of social distancing regulations, I would have assumed that they would still be able to run, especially if that provider is willing to keep doing it. We do know there are health, regulation or health rules out there being put in place by all the state governments. It is important to note that disability workers are classified as an essential service. So they’re exempt from that. So that’s really important that we continue to make sure providers to make sure that our, our participants and our carers are aware that disability services continue. Now it may look and feel a bit different, as I said, community access and going to the movies and doing those things aren’t how they used to be – but to go out and do get out outside and do some activities outside or do some other type of smaller group based activities is still okay, based on the essential services rules. So for me, it’s really important that we have conversation with your your son’s provider, your accommodation provider, as well as their other providers around these safeguards being put in place, about how we can continue to get the supports that they need in some of those services. Noting that it may change slightly. But if they need help exercising or visiting the pharmacy or helping go shopping, those things can continue. They’re essential disability services and you should be having the conversation with providers around those. Yes, some of those other programs may not, but those access to community, those essential services should continue and can continue. So again, just have that conversation with the provider.

Kirsten Deane
Okay, that’s great. And that’s a really important point, Scott, about disability services being regarded as essential services. We’ve had lots and lots and lots of questions in the last few weeks about you know, my, my son or daughter or the person I live with, needs more than one person to help them if they go out or at home – are they still allowed? So that message that disability services are essential services isn’t making it out there and people really are confused about that.

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, well, we’ll make sure that we’re doing our bit as well as with the Commission to make sure that messages gets better saturation because it is clearly an essential service.

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Kirsten Deane 
Our next question is from Gayle. And we got this question from lots and lots of people. And so we just picked Gayle’s because it’s kind of representative of lots of the questions we got. “Now we are being told to do everything online, including telehealth. Technology is now our way to stay in touch with the outside world. But how can thousands of people do that if we don’t have an iPad or a laptop, or a computer or the internet? Can we use some of our NDIS funding for these things?”

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, thanks Gayle. It’s really, really good question and it is one that is coming up a lot – it must be one of our top questions being asked at our National Contact Center as well.

So um, the positive around this I must say too Gayle and people watching today is we are starting to hear a lot of really innovative ways that service providers are changing their business models so that participants can continue to get some of their therapies and certain supports via the internet, which is great. We’ve even heard and seen some examples of gym classes for participants being run online now too – this is fantastic. It’s, it makes sure that people can still access, they can still connect, they’re using different social media to do that. So encourage your providers to think innovatively, it is fantastic as I said. We don’t want people, once the world wakes up post COVID in six to nine months time – for children, for participants to have regressed in their progress. We don’t want that. So we want them to keep getting access to these innovative services and supports.

Regarding the actual purchase. So a lot of Australians – a lot of people already have access to those devices, we know that. But when you don’t, and when you need a device to continue to access your disability services, we are encouraging you to use your NDIS plan flexibly to purchase those devices. So you can stay connected with your NDIS supports. Really important, if you need certain software, a certain device to connect with your participants, to do those online therapies, to do those online gym classes, to connect with your speech therapist or whoever is supporting you through your NDIS plan, we’re encouraging people if they don’t already have a device to use their plan flexibly to purchase one. There’ll be more coming out on this in a moment – in the next little while Kirsten. Cause we’re already looking at how we can speed up the supply of some of those devices, too. So we’ve we’ve we’re doing some work in the background around that too. But in the meantime, please, if you’ve got funding in your plan, and you need one of these for your NDIS supports, we would encourage you to consider using your plan budgets flexibly to purchase such a device so you can keep receiving your supports.

Kirsten Deane 
That’s really good news, Scott. And I can already see from the chat that people are really, yeah, already mentioning that some people have been told yes and other people no. So it’s really great that you were really clear that if you don’t already have a device, and you need it for this next period to access your supports, then you can use your NDIS funding flexibly to do it. That’s, that’s really great. Thank you for being really clear about that.

Note: the NDIA policy has been clarified – find more info about buying devices here.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane 
Okay, we’ve got a question from Lesley and I noticed that this question has also already come up on our chat a couple of times, um, and Leslie says, “I’m not happy about the new cancellation policy. You now have to give 10 days notice before cancelling. Who can do that? Why have you done it? And when will you change it?”

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, thanks, Lesley. So it’s important. It’s a good question. And it’s important to sort of understand why we put this change in place. It’s a temporary change that we put in place. As people know, we’ve always had a cancellation policy. But we’ve made some adjustments to it on the back of COVID-19. And really to reflect that the possibility of increased cancellations on the back of COVID related issues and self isolation. What we’re trying to do with these policy is to make sure participants still will have access to services because providers can claim for services if they’re not delivered. So providers can still ensure they’ve got a workforce, they can still employ the right number of people. And if there are some cancellations that’s covered all well. That means that providers can still pay their staff, and the staff can keep delivering services. If, if a person – so this is the impacts for the participant obviously, is that there could – that would come out of their plans. If their plans are impacted by this, we will adjust them if we need to, of course we will. But for the most part, we think the impact will be quite negligible. It’s only a slight extension on the current cancellation policy. But if people are impacted, and their plan essentially gets used up because of this, then will you need to contact us and we’ll do a review. But the background for this is to shore up workers, and those workers help participants. And that’s really why we’ve done this as well as why we did the 10% increase. It’s to shore up workers who will help participants.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane 
So the question is from Les – hi, Les, if you’re online. “The NDIA are allowing providers to charge an extra 10% on top of core line items. It appears that participants won’t have an extra 10% added to their plans to cover this increase. It’s also – it’s been suggested that if participants run out of funds, all they need to do is request a plan review.” And Les says “Has bureaucracy gone bonkers? Why did the NDIS decide not to boost automatically every participants plan to provide confidence for those who really depend on the funding for their support?”

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, Les, a really good question. And if you’re out there um, we grappled with this one too ourselves. But to be honest, but what we had to look at with this initiative was, again, how do we make sure that there is enough workers to support people with disability and same as the advance payment, the cancellation policy, and this initiative is to ensure providers can keep their workforce going. So that we don’t lose workforce. We will lose workforce because of COVID and self isolation. But how can providers continue to maintain the baseline workforce?

So what we’ve done is increase – we haven’t increased every single line item. That’s really important. We’ve increased those key items such as Assistance with Daily Living, Assistance for Community Access and Participation, Improving Health and Wellbeing. We’ve approved the 10% has gone on to those. It’s just a temporary change too. We set it for the next three months we’re going to recruit – review it after the first three. The 10% increase hasn’t gone on to Support for Independent Living or AT or Home Mods or large capital items. So it’s not across the entire the entire price catalog – just for those actions.

The current data does also tell us Les that uh, most people spend between 75 – 70 to 75% of their plans every year, which means most people have some flexibility at the end of their plan. So we think if this change, you know, is taken up by providers, it’ll absorb a bit of that, but it won’t even absorb all that. If an individual is impacted personally, and is starting to get all of their plan is starting to draw down. Again, you need to contact us. Contact our 1800 number or your Local Area Coordinator office and we will review your plan. But that’s the rationale Les, that’s why we didn’t uplift everyone’s plans, because it’s only on certain support items. We genuinely think there’s going to be enough money across the board when you’re looking at it at a macro level. But if there are people impacted we will individually adjust their plans.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane
So the first person that I’m going to throw to is Gary. Gary, are you online?

No. Okay. All right. Well, I might read out Gary’s question. And then Gary can join us, if he can. So the question from Gary is, “Is the NDIA looking at adding data to Deaf participants’ plans due to Auslan using so much more data? Many Deaf participants are unable to execute their plans without adequate data, as the only option to do so is live streaming.” Thanks Gary.

Gary 
My apologies, Kirsten. I am actually online now sorry, trying to work out how to get the camera working, which I’ve now done. Yeah, and we’ve seen a lot of pushback from the NDIA around data. Even just very recently, with plans still not having data included as reasonable and necessary. And the quote is always generally coming back to the census that 86% of Australians have a device and have data within their family home, which might be true. But if you’re looking at people living on the Disability Support Pension, I don’t think the percentage would be so high if they were the only ones that are actually questioned about the use of data and devices. Additionally, Deaf people when they do use live streaming, they’re using up to 75% more data per hour than what we are using right now in just having a usual conversation, because the pixelation is so much higher. We’re seeing people with plans that have like $20,000 in their plan and requesting $500 worth of data and still been declined. It seems quite odd that you would have a $20,000 plan that you can’t actually execute but because of an additional $500 which then leaves the participant high and dry, makes the sector suffer, and also stops valuable money moving into the Australian economy, which is what we really need to have happening right now.

Scott McNaughton 
Great. Thanks, Gary, really, really good question. Again, this is one, obviously, we’ve been grappling with a little bit it goes to the, my response earlier around the access to devices for people, where people need devices for their disability related supports, and to continue to get their therapies and others they should use their phones flexibly to access that. Absolutely. But you’re right, our view on data, our view on everyday expenses, such as data or on groceries and rent and so forth, saying that’s not within the remit of the NDIS certainly at this stage. However, it is something we are continuing to monitor closely because of COVID. COVID does mean things are being different, delivered differently. It means there’s much more use of certain things like that. So, at the moment, we’re still you know, using the flexibility within plans to access devices and the supports you need, of course, as I’ve said. But data is probably not something at this stage that we’re actually looking at agreeing to fund, but it’s something we are reviewing, in light of the changes to the way services are being delivered. So it’s on our radar, we’re looking at it. We made a call on devices and access to that in terms of flexibility when you need it. But so we’ll continue to review that, I think you’ve made a really good point. And we’ll take that away and give some thought to it, thanks Gary.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane 
Now I am going to throw to Brian. Brian’s got a question about PPE – Protective Equipment. Brian are you there?

Brian 
Yes, here. Can you hear me?

Scott McNaughton 
Hi, Brian.

Brian 
Hi, Scott, how you doing?

This is more of our scenario that could potentially occur in the next 10 minutes. We, we’ve been looking at continuity plans and, and looking at how we would manage situations that could potentially happen in the near future. And one of them is a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 or a suspected case of COVID-19. And these are especially with people who are really vulnerable, who have no informal supports, and can’t do basic day to day activities. They said the scenario is, if that person’s deemed to be suitable for in home care, then we as an organisation need to have all the correct PPE in place, ready to go and make sure our staff are fully trained in this situation. The other problem I’ve got is, staff have a right to refuse to work in that situation if they don’t feel … if they don’t feel safe. Um, what would we be doing as an organisation in that situation? If we don’t have the PPE, and we don’t have the — trained staff, and we and we don’t have staff to actually do it?

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, Brian, I mean, it’s really, um, it’s a very lively issue, isn’t it? It’s, as you said, it could happen in the next 10 minutes. In actual fact, it’s happened this week. We’ve seen it happen in some providers across the country that we’re working with and supporting with access to PPE. I mentioned earlier, there is now the ability for providers to go to the National Stockpile through the Department of Health and get access to that. And we’re arranging the delivery of PPE to providers, especially those like you who are doing in home care for people, in home supports for people. So that that will be available, so encourage you to get that. You are going, organisations may well face where people aren’t prepared because of their own health and safety risks to go into those settings. We need to look across what we’ve done with this provider that we’ve been working with this week is to say, do you have available workforce? Is there some other workers we can get in? Are there others workers in and other providers who we can actually help to get and source up and get – get to support these participants, where we did have a confirmed case. So within your own workforce, you need to do those scenario planning. Really pleased to hear you’re thinking this through Brian already and doing that sort of business continuity approach. Strongly encourage you to get online through the National Stockpile through Department of Health, and Quality and Safeguards to get access to that PPE to ordering. We’ll get that delivered out by Toll or whoever’s doing the deliveries where you are. And then think about your broader scenario for your own workforce. And what if then, if there were, if you were having challenges in your own workforce, how we can support, how the Quality and Safeguards support, how other providers in your local area could also provide additional staff and if need be, and we just move some of the funding in claiming around to support.

Brian 
Some of the problems we have Scott is we’ve went to the Department of Communities and they’ve said that they can’t give us any advice … on COVID-19. We’ve went to the NDIS and they’ve basically said is that we need to continue supporting people, and the Quality Safeguarding Commission, is forwarding these on the Department of Health. I’ve actually went to the Department of Health, and I’ve been able to get a contact in there. And I’m waiting on them coming back with an answer for me as well. And they can’t even give me an answer at this stage. And some of the some of the feedback I’ve got from staff is, the PPE that we have – the gloves and mask, apron, and eye protection is nowhere near the PPE that they see on the TV at nighttime, the staff are walking in hospitals, and the feedback I’m getting is “why do we not have the same PPE as staff in hospitals are getting, when we’re in a similar situation working in a home, in a confined space with people with suspected cases of COVID-19 unconfirmed diagnosis’?” Yeah there’s a lot of really uncertainty and a lot of fear. And um, and the support work community about em about getting the PPE. And then we’ve got we’ve got a real sense of duty of care that we in this unprecedented times to provide the best that we can for our support workers on the front line.

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just acknowledging that, that uncertainty, anxiety Brian, it’s, it’s very real and so it should be. So look, I would encourage you, and we’ll send Kirsten a link around through to the Quality Safeguards – how providers can access the National Stockpile. There are some really good resources there Brian around the types of PPE people need for certain jobs that they’re doing. Obviously, the medical profession will have a higher level of kit than than others who might be in sort of casual contact. But there are there are sort of levels and good guidance around that as well. So we’ll make that available. As PostScript, Kirsten, through you around how providers can access the right levels of PPE through the National Stockpile and hopefully, Brian that can help you and your organisation, somewhat to getting the right equipment they need.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane 
I am going to throw to Robyn now who’s had a question on the chat. Robyn, are you there?

Robyn 
Yeah I am. Can you see me?

Kirsten Deane
Yeah, we can.

Robyn
Okay, great. Yeah. My question was, I have a participant who requires a device to be able to access his services. His plan though is agency managed so he can’t just go out and purchase the device he needs. Because NDIA need to approve, you know, approve that and pay for it. So how would he go about that? He does have sufficient funds in his core support, assistive technology, low cost low risk funds…

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, thanks Robyn. Good, good question. Looks nice and sunny where you are too there in the back.

Robyn 
Sydney. Yes.

Scott McNaughton 
Look pleasing to hear that your son’s got enough funding in the plan for to do this. The easiest way to make it happen in this case – because it sounds exactly like your son needs the device to access his NDIS supports –

Robyn 
– It’s my client actually –

Scott McNaughton 
– funding in the plan to access supports. So that’s great. If it’s agency managed, you can contact us at the 1800 number, we can organise how you can do that, or your LAC or your plan manager. If you do have a plan manager, they can also do that. We are looking at increasing the number of suppliers as well and moving outside the traditional AT suppliers over time who could potentially also support the provision of tablet devices etc. But at the moment, I’d say just contact us. We can make sure that the funding can be used appropriately and put you in the right – point you in the right direction of current suppliers you can use within the plan. Registered suppliers of those sorts of equipment because we do have some already that you can use.

Robyn
Okay. So he would have to have a good idea of what he really needs. Yep.

Scott McNaughton 
Yes. Yeah. What sort of device, what sort of tablet, what’s the – what are the providers saying the most appropriate equipment, you know, so that they can keep doing the teletherapies or health or whatever it might be? Or the providers say this is the sorts of equipment that would best suit you.

Robyn 
Okay. Good. Thank you.

Scott McNaughton 
Good luck, thanks Robyn.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane 
All right. We’re going to throw to Gina next and quite a few people have asked this question. Gina’s got a question about shopping.

Gina, are you there?

Gina
Yes, I am. Hi. Can you hear me?

Scott McNaughton 
Hi Gina. Yes

Gina 
Hi, Kirsten, and everybody. I’m self managed and have very adequate funds in my core support, but can’t afford out of my personal funds to pay for delivery for groceries. I live on the rural fringe and I’m immunosuppressed and on strict medical advice not to have any workers in my home, at the moment. I rang NDIA about 10 days ago and was told by a very kind caring call taker that to check with her team leader, but in fact that that was fine, and she volunteered a reference number for the call should it be questioned. But I notice, I think it was on last week’s NDIS newsletter that in fact, grocery delivery is not an allowable payment request cost. And I’m just wondering if you can clarify that and, and if it’s not, can that be reversed please? Because it’s reasonable, it’s necessary. I don’t want a secondary source of infection by a second lot of people handling the goods — fatigue issues in washing those down is huge, and I’m sure many people will have lots of reasons as well.

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, no, thanks, Gina a really good question. And pleased you asked, because I really want to clarify this one for people. Before I do, I just want to give a plug for the announcement earlier in the week around the online shopping supermarket delivery service. So hopefully people out there listening or maybe you’re supporting participants have received their code by email or text this week. That that’s a great initiative. Covers most of the major supermarket small supermarket chains in the country, which is great. So you put that code in and your online order goes to the top of the queue, essentially. Because we have heard in some parts of Australia, you can be 6, 7, 10 days to get delivery. It puts it to the top of the queue. So that’s that’s a great a great initiative.

Of course, the cost of the groceries are everyday expenses you’re expected to pay for those yourselves. The delivery fees – a lot of supermarkets delivery fees vary quite a bit depending on how much you spend, some are free, some are 15 bucks if you only spend $30 just depends on the region and provider. However, and your case is a perfect example – where you’re unable to do your shopping because of your disability, so you need to shop online that is claimable by your plan, through your NDIS plan.

Gina 
Thank you.

Scott McNaughton 
Okay, it’s very clear. So when you can’t shop because of your disability, you can claim that delivery fee of the shopping through your –

Terrific, thank you.

Gina 
That’s great.

Scott McNaughton 
So use it flexibly to do that, of course then you’re up for the cost yourself, Gina, of the of the groceries, of course, but the fee can be funded. And use the code to get to the top of the queue.

Kirsten Deane 
Thanks, Scott. That’s really clear. And there’s been lots of questions about that in the chat. And so thank you for clearing that up.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane 
We’ll throw to Trudi and then Maree. So Trudi, are you there? And do you want to go ahead and ask your question?

Trudi
Can you hear me?

Kirsten and Scott 
All, good Trudi. Yeah we can Trudi.

Trudi 
Sorry. Okay. Um, yes. My question was just everything you’ve talked about is to do with service providers. What about people who self manage or are employing their own staff to be able to get PPE equipment for them? How do we do that? Everything’s about contact the national database but it’s nothing about what self managers can do.

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah thanks Trudi. We’ve been looking at what – how big the National Stockpile will be to allow self manages to access this over time. We’ve had to prioritise, because the stocks aren’t, there isn’t enough, there isn’t enough in the country. So we’ve had to prioritise the service providers, especially those doing lots of the sort of in home type care, as I mentioned. But so at the moment, that will be the priority, then we’re going to see what’s left in the stockpile, and then we’re going to see if we can get this some way of having some access to people who are self managing, But unfortunately, just don’t have enough stock yet in the country. However, I do encourage people to get on to all available resources around the place for that self managing. Also, we’re hearing that a lot of providers who are providing services for participants that are self managed, are able to support – source their own PPE themselves too. So if you’ve got someone coming into your house, who is your provider, they can still sort – service their own PPE equipment through the stockpile. So I’d encourage them, Trudy to do that. I think that’s right. And then until we can get more stockpile in the country, we then need to work out when we can actually open that up for people that are self managed. Unfortunately, we just don’t have enough stock. So just be innovative. Try and get the stocks where you can try and get any people coming to your house to source through the stockpile, and we’ll stay in touch through EAC about when we can get some more stockpile available.

Trudi
Okay, so just to confirm on that, we so we don’t use service providers, we employ our own private staff, so therefore we’re responsible. So if we can access the equipment ourselves in some way then that is a claimable expense for us?

Scott McNaughton 
Yeah, so if you need that for the support of it, remember to make sure you’re doing your own due diligence and research around when you need to wear PPE. And why it’s important. There’s a lot of people using PPE that don’t need to be using it in the country and that’s also diminishing the stocks of people that really need it. So do you do your research about when you need to use it, Trudy, that’s really, really important. And then and then you’ll be able to access it through those means, but just use it wisely as you need it.

Trudi 
Thank you.

Transcript

Kirsten Deane
And Maree Dyson, you are the lucky last – you’ve got a question you’d like to ask Scott.

Maree
Thank you very much. I assist two family members in the management of their plans. One’s on an agency managed plan, the others my grandson’s self managed plan. Both have behaviours of concern and are escalating in response to the isolation and will get worse because of the school closures. Because of the NDIA current pricing guide, I am unable to move funding from Improved Daily Living into Improved Relationships. My grandson has some money in there, my cousin has none. And the behaviours are escalating. I have a team ready to go on telehealth and I cannot access the money. Will you please allow us to use the Improved Relation – the money in other buckets in capacity building to address Improved Relationships?

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, Maree, thank you. This is a really powerful example about how we need to create more flexibility. I can tell you before COVID we were looking at a piece of work underway actually to create a lot more flexibility between core and capacity budgets.

Maree
No, not core and capacity – it’s within capacity. We have money in Improved Wellbeing and we have money in Improved Relationships – or no money in Improved Relationships. And your price guide currently says I cannot move money into Improved Relationships. And my family members and the staff are dealing with escalating behaviours.

Scott McNaughton
Yes, we want to make sure absolutely Maree we want to make sure they can access that funding, we want to make sure that they can move that funding around or you can claim against that. We’ve made a couple of changes to allow support coordinators if you had one to claim against those items. We’re also looking at a system change coming up shortly that will allow for much more flexibility within core and within capacity building over time, maybe between the two. If you would like I can get some details to Maree around how you can actually do it immediately and how you can claim against those two buckets — capability because we want those services to continue. They’re too important. And so when there’s money within the capacity bucket how you can move it or use it flexibly between those items. We’ll get your details and explain how you can do that.

Maree
Yeah families with kids with autism and behaviours are under tremendous stress at the moment. Tremendous stress.

Scott McNaughton
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Kirsten Deane 
Thanks, Maree. And thanks for asking that question on behalf of, you know, lots of people who can’t be here me today. So thank you.

It might seem like it is too late to get ready but it’s not. But there isn’t any time to waste. Now is the time to think about what is absolutely essential to you. What do you need to get through the coming weeks and months?

Essential supports and services are those which keep you alive and which you cannot live without. Eating and drinking are two pretty good examples. But because of what is happening at the moment essential support might also include some different things – like support for your mental health. Now is a pretty stressful time and given we are all at home alone a lot, it is something worth thinking about.

You need to think about what is essential to you – your health and your wellbeing. Then talk to your family, your friends, your service providers and your health care providers about coming up with a plan to make sure you are safe and have what you need.  (And we know not everyone has those people in their lives. Please try and find someone – anyone – you trust to help you).

It’s also a good idea to make sure you have a good stock of all your medicines and stuff. Do you need catheters, continence items etc? You will probably need to stock up on a few extra. And if you need personal care, some personal protective equipment (PPE) is going to be pretty important. Unfortunately it’s just really hard to get at the moment. Talk to your providers and workers and keep trying through your usual suppliers.

If your plan is about to end then a local area coordinator or a planner should be in touch to organise a review.

Because the NDIA are trying to reduce face-to-face contact, that review will happen over the phone or by email.

If you are happy with your current plan and nothing needs to change, then you can roll over your plan for up to 24 months. That can just be done over the phone.

You will get the same plan, the same supports and the same budget as you had before.

For example, if your current plan budget is $15,000 for one year, you will get $30,000 for two years.

The NDIA is trying to make it as quick and as easy as possible to get plans rolled over. That way they can focus on people who need changes and help more urgently.

So if you are pretty happy with your plan and your budget, you can just ask it to be rolled over and you will be good to go.

But back to the question. If you haven’t had a phone call or an email and the end date is coming closer and closer, make sure you call the NDIA. Pronto.

But most of all don’t worry that you will run out of money.

NDIS plans do not end any more. On the day your plan is due to expire, it will be extended by 365 days.

It will have all the same supports and the same budget as the previous year. You won’t have to do anything – it will happen automatically.

But again if your needs have changed – or you think they are going to change in the year ahead – get on the phone and organise that plan review quick smart.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

It is really hard with all the changes. We get it. First place to start is to talk to your regular provider (or providers) to see if they can offer you any different kinds of support. For example, if you usually have help to go out, can you get someone to come and give you a hand at home? Or someone to do your shopping for you and drop it off at home?

And if your current provider can’t help you – do you know any other providers in the area who might? If you have a support coordinator they should be helping you find other options. You can also ask your current provider to help you (yeah we know – that’s likely to get a bit of a mixed response. But worth a go).

Remember that your core budget is flexible so you can use it in the way that works best for you. You can change things around to suit yourself. You don’t need any kind of approvals to do that. Just go ahead and organise things the way you want to.

And if you are worried that you will run out of money AND you have some left in your capacity building budget, you are now allowed to move some into core.

But (and it’s a big but) you can’t do that without talking to the NDIA first. So give them a call and they can approve the changes over the phone.

If you are finding all this wrangling a bit too much, don’t forget you can now use some of your core funds to pay for a support coordinator to help you.

And finally – if you think you might not have enough funds in any category, get on the phone to the NDIA straight away and tell them you need help. Tell them you need an urgent review so that you have enough funds and support to get through. Don’t wait.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

It is really hard for people when everything shuts down all of a sudden. Particularly for people who are really used to routines and find change hard.

First thing to do is talk to your provider (or providers). Now that the regular activities have stopped what other individual options can they offer your son?

Or if you employ your own individual workers, can you get them to organise some different (but still safe) activities with your son? What about walks in the park? Some support at home instead of going out?

And if you are reluctant to have workers in your home right now (and we get that) are there some things that support workers could do by video that would work for your son? Learning something new? Playing a game together over the internet? Watching a movie together over the internet? We know that won’t work for everyone – it’s not a good solution for all. And it requires gear and internet that not everyone has. But for some people it might really help to keep connecting with the same people who have always worked with them.

Now is the time for a bit of creativity. Talk to your workers – they might have some awesome ideas.

And one final thing. The funding in your NDIS plan assumes your son will be doing things in groups. If he is using support workers one-on-one he will burn through his funds quicker (the hourly rate for groups is less than the hourly rate for individual support). If you are worried he will run out of funds get onto the phone and call the NDIA and request a review. And don’t wait – get onto it quickly (just in case the review takes a while. Can’t imagine why we think that …)

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

If you have a provider (or providers) you need to talk to them about what your needs are and what you need workers to help you with. And you need to do it fast – don’t wait. They need to know exactly what your needs are so they can do some planning too.

They have a responsibility not to leave you in the lurch. If your regular workers are sick or can’t come for any other reason, they should be helping you find others to fill those shifts.

But even though that is true, we also reckon it is better to be safe than sorry. Start thinking about what you might do if that happens. Who can you call in an emergency? Is it worth setting up a bit of a pool of emergency replacements now so you are ready if it happens?

If you employ your own workers – do you have a couple of workers you can contact in an emergency? Do you have a couple of workers who can fill shifts quickly for you? If you don’t, now might be a really good time to organise a few in case you need them.

There are also platforms out there like that can help you find workers. Now might be a good time to check them out – don’t wait until you get stuck.

And this is a bit scary but it is a good idea to start putting together an emergency plan. Who amongst your family/friends/neighbourhood/community could help you if you really got stuck? Not everyone has these people in their lives. Who is a trusted person you could call? Start having those conversations and collecting those phone numbers now.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

Lots of therapists have already started using Telehealth to work with kids and adults. (It’s often the only way to reach people who live in rural and remote areas.) And now with the need for people to stay home, lots more are getting onto it very quickly.

We know it won’t work for everyone. And it won’t work for some kinds of therapy – hard to get a physio to help keep you mobile when you can’t be in the same room. But there might be other things that you can do that will help you keep safe and well.

Same goes for support workers. Have a talk to your child’s workers about what they might be able to do with your child using Zoom or Skype or FaceTime or one of the many other programs. Is it a chance to learn something new? Play a game? Work on an app? Sing or dance?

It definitely won’t work for everyone. And it assumes you have internet and some kind of device like a phone or a computer. And functional internet (NBN anyone?). There’s some big assumptions right there. But we finally have some good news on devices for accessing supports online – scroll down to the next question for more info.

After a couple of weeks of confusion, anxiety and worry, the National Disability Insurance Agency confirmed on April 27 that NDIS participants CAN purchase a smart device to help them with their disability support during this period.

And while the answer has always been a general yes, we have all been waiting for the fine print.

So here it is.

You can purchase a device such as a tablet if:

✅ You need it for your disability support during this period. Things like therapy or Auslan interpreting for meetings. So again – not for bingeing on Netflix.

✅ You don’t already have something that will get the job done.

✅ You don’t have access to something that will get the job done through another system. On this one they are really talking about education. Or if you are a parent – your personal laptop or computer.

✅ The device is the “lowest specification” necessary to get the job done. In other words, this isn’t the time for a fancy upgrade.

✅ And you have something in writing confirming you need it. Doesn’t have to be a full blown assessment from a therapist but just something in writing to say it’s necessary. Just an email will be OK.

Check out our news article from April 27 for more details.

This is a tricky one. Under normal circumstances, the answer is generally no. The NDIA don’t allow payment of family members. And they have lots of very good reasons for that rule.

But we get that now is not exactly normal. What we can tell you is that the NDIA are still telling people that you can’t employ family members. But if you find yourself in “exceptional circumstances” give them a call and talk to them. You will need to explain and show why no other options will work for you.

If your circumstances really are very different as a result of the virus, it might also be worth checking whether your family member is eligible for the Carer Payment. There is more information about the payment on the Services Australia (Centrelink) website.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

We get that. People talk about “use it or lose it” a lot. But the NDIA keep saying they will not look at unspent funds when working on your plan and budget next time. In their words – the funding “will be determined by your disability-related support needs not by assessing unspent funds”. Feel free to take a screen shot of that on the and take it with you to your next planning meeting. 😜😜

All jokes aside, there is something else you can do. Keep a few notes about what is happening at the moment – what you have cancelled and why. That way you will have it at your fingertips when your next meeting comes around. It will help you to explain why you didn’t use your funds – and what you need now.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

Reviews should still be going ahead as usual. But we know there has been a bit of a backlog. So it’s a good idea to give the NDIA a call to see where things are up to.

But just remember two things.

First – NDIS plans no longer end. On the day your plan is due to expire it will be rolled over for another 365 days. You will get the same supports and the same budget for another year. You don’t have to do anything – it will happen automatically.

Second – the NDIA are now allowing people to move money between core and capacity building categories. So if you have run out of core funds but still have some in capacity building, you can move it over. But the bad news is that you can’t do that yourself – you have to call the NDIA and they will approve the change over the phone.

We know that won’t help everyone – particularly if you put in a review because you don’t have enough support. But the extra flexibility might help you get scrape through until you hear back about the review.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

NDIS plans don’t end anymore. On the day your plan is due to expire, it will be extended for another 365 days. You will get the same supports and the same budget for the next year. And it will happen automatically – you don’t have to do anything. That’s good – it means you won’t run out of funds or have a gap between plans. Really helpful at the moment.

But that won’t work for everyone. Your needs might have already changed – or your circumstances might have too. Or you might already know that a big change is right around the corner – like leaving school for example.

So lots of people will still need a review to make sure they get the right support in their plan. Those reviews will have to happen over the phone or by email now – the NDIA are cutting down on face to face meetings at the moment (for obvious reasons). But you can still have a review – the extended plan is only so you don’t run out of funds while you are waiting for the meeting.

You can find more information about this on the NDIS – what happens when page and on the NDIS – FAQs pages.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses known to cause respiratory infections. This new coronavirus is called COVID-19.

Symptoms range from fever, tiredness, dry cough, aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea. Some people recover quickly and easily, and other may get very sick, very quickly.

Coronavirus is most likely to spread from person-to-person by:

• Coming into close contact someone while they are infectious or in the 24 hours before their symptoms appear.
• Close contact with a person with a confirmed infection who coughs or sneezes.
• Touching things (such as door handles or tables) that are contaminated from a cough or sneeze from a person who has the virus and then touching your mouth or face.

Make sure you and people around you

1. Wash your hands a lot with soap and water, at all times but especially before and after eating, and after going to the toilet.
2. Cover your cough and sneeze, throw away tissues, and wash your hands.
3. Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, nose and face.
4. Practice “social distancing” – stay 1.5 metres away from people.
5. Stay home if you feel unwell.
6. If you have any symptoms seek medical advice – but call ahead first to get instructions on what to do.

State and federal governments now have rules about where you can go. Check your state or territory website to find out about the latest rules in your area.

The Department of Health has a Coronavirus hotline – 1800 020 080 (24 hours a day, seven days a week).

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can use the National Relay Service to access any of the department’s listed phone numbers.

You can also visit the National Relay Service website or call 1300 555 727. If you need translation and/or interpretation support you can there’s help here: Department of Home Affairs website .

The Department of Health has lots of factsheets on their Coronavirus page.

The information includes:

• Home isolation and care
• For international travellers
• For parents of school aged children
• For aged care residents and families
• For childcare, schools and higher education
• For employers
• For travel, transport and hotel industries
• Posters

There are also four videos to watch:

• Good Hygiene Starts Here
• Help Stop the Spread
• Stay Informed
• Recent Traveller

You should keep checking back on their Coronavirus page for all the latest information.