The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) rolled out at the start of this week across western Victoria.
The NDIS aims to deliver funds directly to the participant to choose the services they want from NDIS providers, where once, the funding went directly to the organisation to put in place services for people to access.
Northern Grampians local government area was part of the roll-out and Grampians Community Health (GCH) chief executive Greg Little said his organisation was committed to providing NDIS services without compromising on the GCH history of quality care and support to the community.
“This has meant that GCH has been working hard toward adapting service delivery to meet the needs of the community and the types of areas people are asking for in their NDIS plans,” he said.
“There has been significant planning around how GCH can re-align with the new funding arrangements.
“Ongoing training and education to staff, and recruitment to meet the needs for both our existing and new participants is a priority in preparedness for the roll-out to our local communities on October 1.”
Grampians Community Health was a registered NDIS provider before the start of October- providing services to NDIS participants in the Ararat Rural City Council area since January.
Mr Little said 30 NDIS participants are receiving services in accordance to their plans and goals stated by the participants themselves.
“This has helped GCH remodel service delivery to be flexible to people’s needs,” he said.
“To date, in navigating the new NDIS requirements with both existing transitioning participants into providing NDIS services, and new participants to GCH, we have been on a huge learning curve around the NDIS guidelines and identifying solutions to manage the many challenges.”
Grampians Community Health are offering free individual NDIS information sessions at the Stawell office.
“The NDIS focus is all about choice and control in what types of services you want and when you want them,” Mr Little said. “It’s about a whole of life approach- This is consistent with GCH philosophy embedded in every service we provide in our community.”
