AHPA submitted a final submission to Independent Review of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, providing feedback to the “What We Have Heard” NDIS Review Interim Report.
In our submission, AHPA noted that contributing to the NDIS Review process has required overcoming ‘submission fatigue’, because the allied health sector has highlighted many of the same themes over a long period to a variety of entities, to little effect and that it appears that at least some major policy decisions about the NDIS have already been made.
AHPA warns that This results in NDIS participants not receiving the full value of allied health services that they need and deserve. It is essential that the NDIA institute processes to foster respect for the distinct value and roles of allied health in supporting participants, and for the clinical judgment of our practitioners. We also expressed disappointment that aspects of Review consultation material, such as the Pricing and Payments Paper, have continued (no doubt with media amplification) the scapegoating of allied health professionals as contributors to NDIS ‘unsustainability’.
AHPA further noted that at least some of the key issues we raised in our February submission were not identified in the Interim Report, and so it is unclear whether the Review intends to make the appropriate recommendations.
These issues include:
- underutilisation of therapy supports, including in comparison to overall utilisation rates
- under-pricing of allied health
- marginalisation of allied health in NDIS workforce planning
- inadequate allied health NDIS data
- lack of integration of the NDIS with other national care and support systems, including via workforce planning and digital systems