As many of the families we see in our clinic are aware, the long awaited NDIS – National Disability Insurance Scheme, has finally arrived in the South Western Sydney region on the 1st July 2016. The common questions that I have been asked are:

1. How does the NDIS impact my child?
2. What do I have to do to get onto the NDIS?
3. How does it affect my child’s current therapy services? 

So I thought it would be a good opportunity to discuss these issues in this newsletter.

1. How does the NDIS impact my child?

The NDIS is the new national funding scheme to provide all Australians under the age of 65 with permanent and significant disability with the reasonable and necessary supports they need to live an ordinary life. To be eligible for the NDIS a person must:

1. Have Australian Residency,
2. Be under 65 years old,
3. Live in an area where the NDIS is available, 
4. Have an impairment or condition that is likely to be permanent (lifelong) and that stops you from doing everyday things by yourself, and you require support from a person or equipment to do everyday things for yourself, Or 
5. Need some supports now to reduce your support needs in the future. To meet the NDIS Early Intervention rules: The participant must have an impairment or condition that is permanent ( lifelong); or be a child under 6 years of age with a developmental delay and the delay means you usually need more help with your self-care, communication, learning or motor skills than another child of the same age. 

So if your child have been diagnosed with a condition that was not listed on the eligible conditions for the Better Start for Children with Disability funding previously and they have a permanent impairment requiring more assistance than another child of the same age, then your child now can access funding for therapy under the NDIS as long as they fulfil the above criteria items 1-3 and 5.

For children who have previously been able to access the Better Start for Children with Disability funding, they should be transitioned into the NDIS once the NDIS is rolled out in their area.

2. What do I have to do to get onto the NDIS?

If the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) have known your child previously, then the advice from NDIS is that they will contact you as the staff works their way down the list of clients from ADHC. Although, I would still recommend that parents do contact the NDIS on 1800 800 110 to make sure their child is being processed for NDIS. For children who are newly diagnosed with a condition and not previously known to ADHC, I would encourage that parents to contact the NDIS on 1800 800 110 to register your child on their database.

The NDIS has set a priority list as to who will be transitioned into the NDIS first, and this process has only begun in the South Western Sydney region on the 1st July 2016. According to the NDIS the clients are categorizes as follows in order of priority:

1. Residential Centres – clients living in large residential centres;
2. Group Homes – clients living in group homes including small residential centres ;
3. Community High – clients living in the community in hostels, attendant care, in-home support or alternative family placements; 
4. Community Access – clients living the community needing access to learning and life skills, recreation and holiday programs, and community access; 
5. Community Support – clients living in the community needing therapy, early intervention, behavioural intervention and case management; 
6. Respite - clients needing respite which may be centre based and flexible;
7. Community Care – clients needing domestic assistance, personal care, meals service, home modifications, transport, case management (excludes assessment). 

Most children we currently see at My Favourite Physio will fall into category 5 – which at this point in time, is predicted to be transitioning into the NDIS between October 2016-March 2017. As such, families need to be aware and not rush out to spend their current funding from Better Start on unnecessary items in the bid to not “miss out “ on their funding budget. The NDIS may take longer than expected to roll out.

3. How does it affect my child’s current therapy services?

At My Favorite Physio, in order to maintain our current model of service delivery which is focused on achieving outcomes for children through hands-on therapy for each child/person in every session, we will not be under taking the process of becoming a NDIS registered Provider at this point in time.

This means that when families are contacted to have a Planner’s meeting with NDIS, families will have to choose to self manage their therapy funding budget or use a Plan Manager to manage their funding budget, in order to access services with My Favourite Physio.

As always, our commitment is to assist families to achieve the best possible outcomes for their children. So we are offering to help all our current families with putting together a detailed plan for NDIS funding request for their child, in order to ensure that families are well informed on the options and needs of their child over a 12 month period. If you would like our Paediatric Physiotherapist to assist you with your NDIS plan, call our practice on 02 9790 4233 to speak to our Paediatric Physiotherapist today!