Welcome to Western Australia

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission) welcomes registered NDIS providers and behaviour support practitioners from Western Australia, who transitioned on 1 December 2020. This newsletter is one of several resources from the NDIS Commission for sharing information, building capacity in the sector, providing leadership in behaviour support and promoting the reduction and elimination of restrictive practices. Easy read resources are also available on the NDIS Commission website.

Our website has information and resources on behaviour support and restrictive practices that will assist transitioned providers. For further enquiries, please contact the Western Australia Behaviour Support team.

Transitional arrangements for Western Australian NDIS providers

There are special arrangements for behaviour support and restrictive practices which apply to registered NDIS providers in Western Australia.

New Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide

The Regulated Restrictive Practices Guide (guide) was developed for registered NDIS providers and NDIS behaviour support practitioners supporting NDIS participants. It may also be of interest to anyone who supports a person with disability. The guide supports a contemporary positive behaviour support framework.

The guide explains what a restrictive practice is, and sets out information on the five types of regulated restrictive practices (i.e. seclusion, chemical restraint, mechanical restraint, physical restraint and environmental restraint). It also highlights possible impacts and important considerations for the use of regulated restrictive practices when supporting NDIS participants. It will assist registered NDIS providers and NDIS behaviour support practitioners to meet their obligations under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018.

We are currently developing additional guides for release next year. The first of these will be a guide to regulated restrictive practices with children and young people with disability.

Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework

Pilot project

A pilot project for the Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework (PBS Capability Framework) was conducted between July and October 2020. Four specialist behaviour support providers from NSW, SA and QLD participated in the pilot project. The pilot focused on the self-assessment and practitioner suitability application processes. The feedback and outcomes from the pilot project have informed the national implementation program. 

National Implementation Program

We are committed to implementing a PBS Capability Framework that is consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (2006), in accordance with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner’s (NDIS Commissioner) behaviour support function under section 181H of the NDIS Act.

The PBS Capability Framework reflects contemporary evidenced-based practice in positive behaviour support, recognises the wide variation and diversity of sector capacity, and outlines the capabilities required of practitioners who provide behaviour support under the NDIS. You should start preparing for the suitability assessment against this framework. We recommend that you review the published resources that outline the assessment and application requirements to seek suitability as an NDIS behaviour support practitioner, including:

• Positive Behaviour Support Capability Framework
• Self-assessment Resource Guide for the PBS Capability Framework
• National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS Behaviour Support Practitioner Application) Guidelines 2020

The national implementation program will commence in January 2021 and continue throughout 2021 as outlined in the proposed schedule below. We will email existing NDIS behaviour support practitioners and registered providers of specialist behaviour support services to undertake the assessment process at the start date for their primary jurisdiction. You will have 12 weeks to prepare and submit your application.

• NSW: Proposed dates: 15 January 2021 to 9 April 2021
• SA: Proposed dates: 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2021
• QLD: Proposed dates: 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021
• VIC: Proposed dates: 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021
• ACT, NT, TAS: Proposed dates: 1 August 2021 to 31 October 2021
• WA: Proposed dates: 1 September 2021 to 30 November 2021

New practitioners and potential service providers should refer to the NDIS Commission website for how this process applies to them. Any enquiries about practitioner suitability and the PBS Capability Framework implementation can be made by emailing ndispractitioners@ndiscommission.gov.au

Behaviour Support Practitioner Admin role

There is now a Behaviour Support Practitioner Admin user role available in the NDIS Commission Portal. This role allows users to create draft plans on the portal on behalf of NDIS behaviour support practitioners. See the Behaviour Support Practitioner Admin Role in COS fact Sheet for more information.

Provider Practice Alerts

In response to the research undertaken by Professor Julian Trollor into the causes and contributors to deaths of people with disability we have produced a suite of practice alerts aimed at helping NDIS providers identify and reduce risks that are associated with avoidable deaths of people with a disability.

The first suite of alerts covers:

• Dysphagia, safe swallowing and mealtime management
• Epilepsy management
• Medicines associated with swallowing problems
• Polypharmacy
• Transitions of care between disability services and hospitals

These are also available on the NDIS Commission website.

Quality audit of behaviour support plans

One of the NDIS Commissioner’s functions under the NDIS Act is to build capability in the development of behaviour support plans through:

• developing and implementing a competency framework for registered NDIS providers whose registration includes the provision of behaviour support assessments and developing behaviour support plans; and

• assessing the skills and expertise of such providers against the competency framework.

To identify baseline quality of plans, an audit of the quality of a random sample of 100 comprehensive behaviour support plans was undertaken by trained NDIS Commission clinicians using the Behaviour Support Plan Quality Evaluation Scoring Guide II (BSP-QEII).

The major findings were:

• Around half of comprehensive behaviour support plans require marked improvement.
• Only 24% of comprehensive behaviour support plans reviewed were rated as good or superior quality.
• There was poor consultation with participants and advocates in the development of plans.
• Plans were better at identifying behaviours of concern but generally poor at identifying strategies that could modify behaviours of concern.

We aim to work with NDIS behaviour support practitioners to implement a range of strategies to support the development of high quality plans, in collaboration with participants and their support networks.

Contact the National Behaviour support team or your local Behaviour Support team:

NSW | ACT | NT | Queensland | Tasmania | Victoria | SA | WA