Welcome to our Participant First Engagement Initiative newsletter.
In this newsletter we have a focus group to improve Participant, Provider relationships. We also have 3 short surveys. We would like to hear about your experience with the Participant First Engagement Initiative, as well as your thoughts on the Continence Provider list and your experience trying to find information on disability supports.
The National Disability Insurance Agency is improving how we deliver the NDIS and has been testing a new system in Tasmania called PACE. Prior to rolling PACE out nationally, we are inviting NDIS participants, families and carers to attend information sessions.
Opportunity 1: Participant, provider relationships: Expanding provider information visibility - focus group
Expressions of interest close Sunday, 23 July 2023
Focus group purpose:
We are testing features and tools of our new My NDIS provider portal.
One of these new features includes the ability for registered providers, plan managers, support coordinators and psychosocial recovery coaches to view sections of a participant's plan with participant consent.
During this session we would like to discuss:
How we can help participants prepare for any discussions about choosing to share their information with a provider
What types of information participants think a provider may need to know about them to do their job
It is important that we connect with participants to understand how we can deliver an improved participant/provider experience.
We would like to speak with 8 NDIS participants, family members or carers, whose NDIS plan is Plan Managed or Agency Managed.
Opportunity 2: Quarterly survey - Participant First Engagement Initiative
This survey closes Sunday, 30 July 2023
We created the Participant First Engagement Initiative to provide participants an opportunity to give feedback to the NDIA and a way to share your ideas and experiences.
As you know, we send out the Participant First Engagement Initiative email to let you know about feedback opportunities and updates on the work we are doing. We then connect you to the feedback opportunities including surveys, focus groups, interviews or working groups.
Your feedback helps us to provide the best service possible, and many of you will notice the significant improvements we have made since our last quarterly survey.
We want to keep improving and would like to hear from you about how we are doing in the Participant First Engagement Initiative.
The Continence Provider List survey is open for participants who have continence supports as part of their NDIS plan.
The survey seeks feedback from participants, families and carers to better understand their experience of the Continence Provider List and how we can further improve it.
We will use the information from the survey to improve the Continence Provider List and examine options to deliver better outcomes for participants.
About the survey
The survey takes around 10 minutes to complete.
It can be completed on a computer, smartphone or tablet, and is screen-reader friendly.
All survey responses are anonymous and do not impact your NDIS plans, funding or services.
Participants can use the Continence Provider List as a starting point in sourcing their products. It gives trusted information to help contact suitable providers to discuss your individual continence product requirements.
Participants are not required to source their supports exclusively from the listed providers and can continue to exercise choice and control by choosing to purchase products from their provider of choice.
More information
For further information, phone 1800 800 110 or email [email protected].
Opportunity 4: Guide for understanding supports survey
The survey will be open until Monday, 31 July 2023
Have you looked for information about disability supports?
The National Disability Insurance Agency would like to invite people who are aged 18 years and over, and who have looked for information about disability support in the last three months, to complete a short online survey. You could have looked for this information for yourself or someone else.
The survey takes between 10 and 20 minutes to do, and includes questions like:
What topics you were looking for information about, and
Whether you were able to find all the information you needed
You can choose what to tell us about your experience. You do not have to share anything you are not comfortable sharing. The survey is anonymous.
If you have any questions about this survey, you can contact us at [email protected].
Thank you to everyone in the Participant First Engagement Initiative who were involved in the Guide to Self-management review.
Would we fund it - Services if you're in hospital
In May we held a focus group to help us improve the Would we fund it - Services if you're in hospital. We want to make sure the examples in the Would we fund it guide are easy to understand and have the right information.
Based on the feedback we heard, we will:
Look at restructuring the information to match key stages of a hospital stay.
Look at adding examples that cover a broader range of situations and ages.
Make sure the language we use in these examples is clear and to the point.
Thank you to our Participant First members who shared their experiences and feedback.
Making sure every dollar of NDIS funding goes to supporting people with disability and the 'right stuff just happens'
In May we held a focus group to discuss the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, impacts of fraud and how the Fraud Fusion Taskforce should consider and address the needs of participants. The Fraud Fusion Taskforce is a joint effort between the NDIA, Services Australia, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and other Government agencies.
The Fraud Fusion Taskforce aims to find and stop fraud in the NDIS and across other Government services.
In our focus group session we learnt a lot from the group about the needs of participants. We also heard the need for providers to be held accountable to meet their obligations under the Scheme and to participants.
Based on this feedback, we are developing an Ethics and Human Oversight Framework which will define values and principles, as well as practical arrangements that will focus on protecting and meeting the needs of participants. This will underpin the work of the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, including:
Transparent communications with all participants on activity of the Taskforce and information that will inform and protect them from fraud, including how to recognise fraud and actions that participants can take to protect themselves.
Participant safeguards when we are carrying out our work and addressing fraud cases.
Work on improving the integrity of the NDIS to hold providers accountable for their obligations.
Ensuring our risk management framework adequately addresses management of risks to participants.
The value and feedback of the focus group will also be used to develop a program of co-design and participant engagement to continue to inform the Fraud Fusion Taskforce and its operations.
We would like to thank all Participant First members who took part in this session. The Ethics and Human Oversight Framework is expected to be finalised in the next couple of months. We will also provide further updates to participants about the Fraud Fusion Taskforce.
We only need you to send your information form once, and nothing else.
If you need help with the form, or you have any questions, please email us or call or text us on 0436 649 469 or 0439 406 141.
Friendly reminder:
When completing the Participant First information form please make sure you press the Submit Button once only to end the session.
A box will appear at the top of the screen with Submission Completed. If you press the Submit Form a second time it will create an error message, however your form has been completed and you can now close your browser.
Invite a family member, carer or friend
If you know anyone you think might be interested in taking part in any of the opportunities or joining the Participant First Engagement Initiative, please let them know they can do so by completing the Participant First Information form (opens in new window).
General feedback and enquiries
We know sometimes you may have important general feedback or enquiries about the NDIS which does not relate to the Participant First Engagement Initiative. We'd like to remind you that you are able to submit your queries to the email addresses below: