Anonymous – 08/10/2021

There is an urgent need to implement laws that ensure the accountability of NDIA staff, their managers, and NDIA as a whole. Currently there appears to be no Duty of Care or accountability, despite NDIA governing the supports that keep people alive. We see frequent risks of death and events of harm where NDIA holds the full responsibility to minimise this risk, but poorly trained staff do not follow policy and often ignore these cases due to having no idea how to manage them. Currently none of the staff in the NDIA can ascertain who holds the Duty of Care within these situations, and call centre staff’s hands are tied when confronted with this risk, as all they can do is forward an email that only gets read 50% of the time – usually weeks after it has been sent. It is then overwhelmed hospitals that have to fill this gap, if we are lucky enough to get the participants to a hospital in time. There is currently a ticking time bomb for a class action against the NDIA for the total lack of accountability for their own actions and the damage that is being done on a daily basis by staff that operate outside of any guidelines. Staff are essentially untouchable, as the complaints department are now operating under a policy where the only action they claim they are allowed to complete is to forward the complaint to another department. As soon as they forward the email, they close the complaint. This is highly dangerous and gross misuse of power. If NDIA is to continue into the future, the accountability of everyone employed under NDIA needs urgent address. All of these legislated changes mean nothing if there is no way to follow up or hold people to account – all we can do is send in emails that are never read saying that laws are being broken. Please don’t wait for people to die to fix things.