AHPA submitted critical feedback to the Australian National Audit Office audit of the Effectiveness of the National Disability Insurance Agency’s management of assistance with daily life supports. We identify some of the most serious problems are the result of a shift from state-based services to a largely fee-for-service, market-based, highly bureaucratic system, together with reliance on shared responsibility across multiple governments, departments and agencies for policy, workforce development, regulation, and pricing
Key points raised by AHPA include:
- There is a poor understanding of the role of allied health professionals in providing assistance with daily life supports by planners and support coordinators
- NDIS participants experience a lack of control over their disability plans and the planning process
- Workforce issues including pricing, unpaid work and regulatory burdens on allied health professionals indicate that the NDIA is not effectively managing operational risks to the proper use of resources in administering assistance with daily life supports.
- Participant underutilisation of therapy supports indicates that management of the agency is not as effective as it could be.
AHPA also outlined difficulties with the opaque nature of obtaining data from the NDIA and well as the difficulty of engaging with the NDIA and NDIS. We made 11 recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the NDIA. They can be found in the document below