If the Fairy Godmother appeared – waved the wand and said, “yes…you have your wish…here is your funding to support your disability or your child’s disability”…
What would you do then?
Would all your dreams fall into place immediately and easily?
For some families, this will become a reality with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) moving it’s way down through Queensland whereby we look forward to it’s arrival as of 2018. Current spending on State wide disability will be doubled, whereby the current spending estimated at $11 billion will be approaching $22 Billion to enable this to be the largest social reform in Australia’s history. So the development of this system has not been a simple event. With anything this scale, we have all got to expect that there will be some transitional challenges as the system and processes are assessed to be effective when they are trialed in real life to do what they are expected to do. For more information, place your details in the list on the right so you can keep informed as the NDIS progresses forward.
Families will benefit from being educated when completing their NDIS plans to avoid delays or unnecessary plan rejections for funding that they may be eligible for.
This process is not as easy as completing a written assignment and hoping for the best. This Fairy Godmother has some strict rules and regulations that go beyond scrubbing the floors and making the beds. For some families this task may be beyond them and they will need to rely on a NDIS planner to undertake that task for them. However, if this is you, you will also need to trust that this planner has the capability to understand your specific needs or your family members needs based on their disability that they are applying for. In some instances, these families may be best served gaining the support of a Case Managing Company to assist in their affairs.
However, with some education and training for the first NDIS plans, many families will be able to make this first transition to the system and complete their plans themselves to submit to their planner and then to the NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency). This can be taught in a step by step process – whereby families, such as you, can then learn to replicate this process for NDIS plans in the future as you or your child’s goals adapt and change.
To get started with the process, this is what you need to ask:
- Would you or your child be eligible for the NDIS funding?
- What is the criterion for eligibility?
- Would you or your child need to gain a diagnosis or further assessments to know this?
- Who can undertake these assessments to get you on your way?
- How would you register for the NDIS system?
- Would you self-manage or have your plan Case Managed by a Company?
- How would you write your NDIS plan?
- What you you write?
- What’s GOALS would you target and how would you communicate that in your plan?
- Would you recommend equipment in your plan and how would you prove it is required?
- How will you know what to include in your plan if you or your child is not currently attending a therapy program?
- How much would you estimate your services and products to be?
- Who would you want to choose to be part of your NDIS plan team?
- How would you then manage the funds if they were given to you>
- Would you know your obligations and expectations for accountability?
- How would you indicate that to the NDIS?
- How would you manage the flow and timing of your plan so that you reached your goal in the time that you said that you would?
- How would you reflect that you have achieved this in your next NDIS plan request to keep the support going?
We have tried to help our families through this process by building a step-by-step process to guide you along.
Join the list and then I can communicate with you directly and advise you of information and considerations along the way. This list is FREE and don’t worry, you can unsubscribe at any time. However, I know for one, this is not the time to be cutting the life rope to the rescue ship as the BIG WAVE approaches our region.
I have experienced first hand the frustrations that families feel when funding is not available to support their children with a disability when they know that this resource can make a significant benefit. It can be just as frustrating for families when funding is available to their children and the families don’t know how to access the funds or, when they do access the disability funding that they still don’t know how to use this funding effectively from limited knowledge of the medical and health industry and equipment and resources available. Recent government funding changes for the NDIS for disability support will be placing a larger amount of control in the hands of the families and the funds will be more available to spend in the private sector than ever before.
What about our health professionals?
Will they know how to support you to spend that disability funding effectively?
Are their services and business’ ready for this change?
Have we stopped to question whether those private sector professionals have prepared themselves for the changing needs for their clients? It is worth a comment that for many years, several disabilities were supported by government disability departments, who had gained specialists skills, equipment and support systems over many years to offer the care and therapy requirements appropriate for disabled individuals of various diagnosis’.
For health services to be transferred into the private sector, health professionals will be required to make considerable investments into additional and often expensive resources as well as specific training to cater for changes to their caseload. This is expected to grow to include specific individuals disabilities that their business may not have usually supported.
Who bears the cost of this change for the professions in the private sector? I know for one, I wasn’t given a development cheque for the senior management after hours working wages. We just volunteered because it was our business and we had no choice. However, I will mention it was not a weekend preparation to get ready, it was a transitioning of 5 years of constant dedication to bringing new systems, procedures and training for the professional and administration team, as well as making steady changes in the understating and even consciousness of our clients. How will this affect the ongoing service provided to disabled people over this transition period? What I want to know is what will happen to the Government systems when the disabled population make this transition?
Follow us on this journey into answering these questions and many more as a member of Case Management From Home and take a greater ownership of your child’s journey or your journey through the medical and health care model and the services that they supply. Simply enter your details above and we can then easily communicate with you in a step by step manner as we build your skills at making decisions, sourcing information, determining goals and planning your programs with your health professionals as we teach you to be the BEST Case Manager From Home.