Debra Hailes – 08/10/2021

I have always been a strong advocate for NDIS. Being a carer for my mother who had MS for 10 years, the idea of packages that reflect individuals to me was lovely.
Sadly in my field of health I see a lot of misuse of this funding and I had to alert NDIS to concerns regarding the neglect of a patient. Over 6 weeks I had the misfortune of contacting every ‘complaints’ avenue to seek urgent help to no avail. This included the critical incidents team. In the end I took my complaint to the Minister for Disability to seek help. I am someone who understands process and yet I was fraught with the process to seek help. There needs to be a better mechanism to alert relevant bodies for help. There needs to be further scrutiny of providers and that the goals of care remain consistent and upheld. This client went over 8 weeks with no carer and meal provision was once a day by an aunt. Whilst we appreciate that things go wrong, there were warning signs leading up to this event for some time that were not heeded by the funding coordinator or the care providers. If we had not advocated, this would have continued to remain an ongoing concern.
It is a privilege to support those vulnerable in our community but I feel that the lack of overarching management of these vulnerable is often self serving and not in the best interest of the client. It seems these days that we are not proactive enough in preventing significant scenarios, instead we ‘learn’ from the most appalling events