The experience of rural and remote clinicians under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been “overwhelmingly negative” and is driving some to consider walking away.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These are the findings of a research team from Tamworth’s University of Newcastle Department of Rural Health, as it wraps up a year-long paper on the issue.
Feelings of frustration, powerless and being overwhelmed are strong themes in the research, which is being led by honours student Rhys Dintino.
Mr Dintino said that, among eight interviewees, about half had said “they were contemplating not registering ... within the next year; they were thinking of cutting their supports because it’s having too much of an impact and it’s all too hard.”
Read also:
The research team, which includes university academics Luke Wakely, Rebecca Wolfgang, Alex Little and Katrina Wakely, has just been accepted to present at the National Rural Health Conference in Hobart in March.
Mr Dintino interviewed allied health clinicians from rural and remote areas of NSW: four occupational therapists, two dietitians, a speech pathologist and a physiotherapist.
They’ve told him of increased demand for their services, “which has an amplified effect in rural and remote areas because there’s a lack of alternate providers”; “real inconsistency” between clients’ old and new plans; and “disparities” between clients – “huge differences in funding across similar diagnoses”.
Other strong themes were that “providers have lost an ability to advocate for services a vulnerable client may need”, and were shackled by red tape and paperwork.
The good news
Positives were “few and far between”, but Mrs Little said clinicians seeing more clients with varied needs were looking at it “as an opportunity to diversity their skill set, which is great”.
Mr Dintino said: “Some providers are seeing really good plans come through to clients that wouldn't have received any, or as much, funding prior to the NDIS.”
Dr Wakely said: “The spirit of the NDIS is great; it’s just the application of it that’s falling down.”
Winding up
Dr Wakely’s experiences reflect the research: he is about to close his part-time practice as a paediatric physiotherapist after nine years.
“[It] is not an easy decision, but it’s got to the point where it’s not feasible to continue,” he said.
“Trying to provide a service under the NDIS means that you’re not really going to meet the needs of the clients effectively …
“If I don’t feel like I’m meeting those needs, that makes it really difficult to continue.”
Some providers are deregistering from the NDIS and still practising privately, but Dr Wakely said he would find it “really hard to say to some families, ‘Sorry, no.’”
The response
Since July 1, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has been responsible for registering and regulating NSW providers.
A spokesperson said it was “too early in the process to say who will voluntarily deregister, given providers can exercise discretion to elect not to seek re-registration”.
A National Disability Insurance Agency spokesperson said that, as of June 30, there were 16,755 registered NDIS providers in NSW.
In the June quarter, there had been 134 provider revocations, which included voluntary deregistrations.
The Leader has also made contact with several NDIS-registered providers.