ndis across the board and that will make such a positive change to people ’ s lives ,” she said .
“ I think there is wide , goodhearted support for the scheme because the public appreciates this scheme is supporting the most vulnerable .”
The NDIS is a game-changer for people with disability and for service providers , and Assistant Minister Prentice said there had been some learnings during the first 15 months of the NDIS and the milestone of reaching 100,000 recipients .
“ It ’ s a massive change that the actual participant is allocated funds so they can decide who supports them and how they ’ re supported for the changes they want in their life ,” Assistant Minister Prentice said .
“ I keep saying to participants , this is only Day 1 of your future . The NDIS is evolving . We ’ re very conscious that the planning one-onone is a priority and that taking short cuts doesn ’ t work .
“ We ’ re also conscious that how you deliver services in different parts of the country can be quite challenging and certainly one size doesn ’ t fit all . Just as we ’ ve decided the NDIS is a model based on the individual ’ s choice , equally we have to look at whether we have the services and providers available in all of those places .
“ There are challenges as well when you look at provider costs , a therapist in demand in Sydney might want to charge a whole lot more than someone in the outer suburbs , and that ’ s something we ’ re reviewing at the moment , the prices that we ’ re offering providers .
“ I think the good news for us was the Productivity Commission report that confirmed we ’ re on track with costs and on track with our long-term modelling ; I think that was a big tick for us .”
Assistant Minister Prentice said there had been both successes and challenges for service providers in the NDIS .
She said the NDIS trial ( which commenced 1 July 2013 and ran through to rollout on 1 July 2016 ) aimed to help service providers adapt to the change of no longer receiving quarterly funding in advance .
Assistant Minister Prentice said some providers adapted in a “ magnificent way ”, with new innovations and ideas ; however , other providers were not coping as well with the new rules , and assistance was being provided where possible .
There are now about 9000 approved service providers nationwide and that figure is growing .
The biggest challenge of all in the new environment is the workforce , according to Assistant Minister Prentice .
“ We ’ ve identified that we ’ re probably thousands short now and that number will grow to tens of thousands by 2020 - it ’ s a massive issue ,” she said .
It ’ s a massive change that the actual participant is allocated funds so they can decide who supports them and how they ’ re supported for the changes they want in their life .
“ It ’ s not just professional services , it ’ s carers as well , it ’ s specialist information , a whole raft of issues , where people are going to have their NDIS plans accepted , they ’ re going to have approved funding , and the services they want may not be available . It ’ s a big learning challenge .”
Assistant Minister Prentice said , most of all , support needed to be provided to people with disability to help them understand that having their approved plans was just day one of their journey .
“ Sitting in an office in Geelong or Canberra you don ’ t really understand the challenges - it ’ s only by going out and talking to people that you understand the challenges they have . The obvious one I keep saying is someone who might have two children with disability , the last thing you can afford to do is to sit on the phone for half an hour at 6pm at night and try to work through something . We need to have flexibility and understanding of the pressures on people .
“ There have been a few challenges with perhaps not getting the right assessment and we need to do a bit more work so that people are getting the plans that they want and need , and making sure the experience is the best one for them .”
For more information visit the NDIS website , www . ndis . gov . au linkonline . com . au NDIS
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