Reach of NDIS to double

INTRODUCTION of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will almost double the number of Gold Coast disability funding recipients from 4300 to 8400.

Rhys Kennedy, CEO of disability support service Choice, Passion, Life (CPL), said while the national rollout of the NDIS had been problematic, a key reason was the huge uptake in clients.

“In Queensland, for every one person previously provided with State Government funding, the NDIS will go one for one,” he said. “The number of people will double.

“On the Gold Coast, before the NDIS there were 4300 people receiving support. After the NDIS’s complete transition by March 31, 2019, they expect there will be 8400.

“Since the other states have rolled out the NDIS before us, we have been able to learn from them, but the reason there may be problems or delays is because of that huge increase in numbers.”

Mr Kennedy said the other positive for the NDIS was a system where clients are able to choose a service provider.

“Previously in Queensland the Government would provide service providers with a block grant, but the client might not have necessarily been happy with it,” he said.

“You might have been receiving a service that wasn’t satisfactory, you might not like staff, they might not have activities that line up with your schedule.

“Now once the person receives their plan, they get to go shop around and decide who suits their needs best.”

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