NDIS cops a broadside

Poor technology means errors could take months to fix

A NATIONAL Disability Insurance Scheme leader dropped a bombshell at a Geelong NDIS forum yesterday, suggesting NDIS participants could not access crucial draft program plans due to inadequate technology.

Many participants at the forum, hosted by Assistant Minster for Disability Services Sarah Henderson, expressed concerns that they could not access a draft plan of their NDIS program and thus faced months of delays due to inaccuracies in the plan.

NDIS provider and markets engagement director Toni Van Hamond said NDIS participants could not view their draft plans because they couldn’t be printed and it was up to the NDIS planner to discuss the plan with the participant before it was approved.

Geelong mother Kathy Spowart said her daughter, who has down syndrome and level three autism, had received great outcomes from the scheme but she was ex- tremely frustrated that she could not see a draft of her daughter’s plan before it was finalised.

“This is a social insurance scheme, not a car insurance scheme,” she said.

“I’m not able to see the draft before it’s approved so I can’t commit to two-year plan because of the inaccuracies.

“If there’s something that needs to be changed then there is a delay.”

Ms Spowart said inexperi- enced planners were causing headaches for families of people with a disability.

Ms Henderson said the NDIS was rolling out improved training for planners to ensure that each individual’s needs were met. “There are many successes, but there are also challenges and it is not 100 per cent,” she said.

The Corangamite MP said the NDIS would create up to 2300 jobs in the Barwon region by July next year.

Ms Henderson said that more than 208,000 Australians had joined the scheme, including 60,000 people who were accessing it for the first time, and 6500 people were participants in the Barwon region.

“The NDIS is growing quickly and it is absolutely in budget,” she said.

By 2019, the NDIS anticipates 460,000 people in Australia will be accessing the scheme.