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Special edition: May 2021
A newsletter for people with disability, your friends, family, advocates and the community.
If you are an NDIS provider or worker who supports a person with disability, or an advocate, guardian, friend or family member of a person with disability, please share this newsletter with them.
This is a special edition of SAFEGuard. We are writing to you to explain some things we have done to help make sure NDIS participants who live by themselves are safe. This is especially important for people with disability who only receive personal support from only one worker.
As well, we are inviting NDIS participants to fill in a short survey about other ways to keep safe people with disability who live alone, while respecting their right to choice and control over their NDIS supports and services.
Changes to NDIS provider registration conditions
In the December newsletter, we explained some changes that affect NDIS participants who receive daily support in their own home from just one support worker.
For those NDIS participants, these changes were made to make sure that their NDIS provider:
- properly looks at risks the person with disability might face in their home
- checks the quality of the supports that the person with disability receives
- asks how happy the person with disability is with those supports.
As well, the provider needs to have an agreement in writing with the person with disability about how they will make sure the support worker is doing the right things.
This is important because an NDIS participant named Ann-Marie Smith died in her home when she had a sole support worker.
Survey for NDIS participants
These changes were just one step in working to protect the safety of people with disability who live alone.
We have written a short survey for NDIS participants that asks questions about other ways to respect the choice and control of people with disability who live by themselves, while making sure they are safe.
If you are an NDIS participant, we invite you to fill in the survey by Friday, 28 May 2021.
You do not have to live by yourself, or only receive support from a single worker to fill out the survey. But you do need to be an NDIS participant.
Your feedback through this survey will help us to put in place rules that respect people’s right to privacy and dignity, while helping to keep them safe from harm.
How to contact the NDIS Commission
You can call us on 1800 035 544. This is a free call from landlines. Our contact centre is open 9.00am to 5.00pm (9.00am to 4.30pm in the NT) Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.
Alternatively, you can email contactcentre@ndiscommission.gov.au
Ways to make a complaint
If you would like to make a complaint to us, you can:
Call 1800 035 544 (free call from landlines) or TTY 133 677. Interpreters can be arranged.
Use the National Relay Service and ask for 1800 035 544.
Complete an online complaint contact form.
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