APM Communities NDIS Plan Implementation Workshop Module 4 transcript

Speaker 1: Welcome to the final topic in APM's plan implementation series of workshops to support you to implement your plan. The last topic will provide you with information about plan reviews and what you can do if you are not satisfied with the supports and services you are accessing as part of your plan or as a general community member. In the NDIS Act 2013, there is a list of decisions that the NDIA makes that you can request to be reviewed if you think they are incorrect. These are known as the review of a reviewable decision or more simply, an internal review. One of the most common of these is the request to review a planning decision about the supports included in your NDIS plan. There are a few things you need to know about these requests. The requests for a review must be made within three months of the decision being made. Making a request does not mean a review will happen. 

You will be notified of the outcome of your request, which might be a request for more information, that the request has been declined or that the review will happen. If the review happens, the person involved in the original decision will not be involved in the review so you may be asked to provide some information again. You can make your request by submitting a written request to the chief executive officer of the National Disability Insurance Agency at GPO Box 700 Canberra ACT 2601. You could also talk to someone at an NDIA office or call them on 1800-800-110. Alternatively, you could send an email to inquiries at ndis.gov.au. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of an internal review, you can apply for an administrative appeals tribunal review. Further information about this and a fact sheet is available on the NDIS website. 

There is a second type of review that can impact your access to the scheme or your NDIS plan. This is a change in circumstances review, and could include things like changes to your disability needs, significant changes in your care or support provided by family or friends. Changes to your living arrangements, such as where you live, if you live with new people, if you move overseas or into an aged care or residential facility. Changes to your job or that you're now looking for a job, or if you receive or claim compensation for an accident or illness related to your disability. A change in circumstances does not mean your plan will need to be reviewed, but it is important to let your LAC or the NDIS know about these changes so they can support you. If your change does impact your supports, and you can not respond to the change by using your plan flexibly, which we talked about in topic two, you will need to submit a change of circumstances form. These are available on the NDIS website. 

As a participant, you may want to provide some feedback or make a complaint to the NDIA about your experience with them. This can be done by completing an online form, completing a hard copy of this form and emailing, posting, or dropping it off to an NDIA office. Or you could send them your concern via email to feedback@endis.gov.au. Or you can also call them on one 1800 800 110. If you're not happy with the outcome of your feedback or complaint, you can contact the Commonwealth ombudsman. As an NDIS partner in the community, APM prides itself on supporting people with a disability, families and carers along their NDIS journey. If you would like to provide feedback or a complaint about the services you've received from APM, we encourage you to contact your local office or local area coordinator. You could phone us on 1800 276 522 or send an email to lac@apm.net.au. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and APM will respond as quickly as possible to acknowledge or resolve your concern. 

If you would like to provide feedback to a funded provider, you can do this through their complaints process, which should be outlined in your service agreement if you have one. Your NDIS planner or LAC is not able to action complaints or feedback to providers on your behalf. If you are unable to engage with their process or unhappy with the outcome of your feedback, you can contact your local advocacy service, your local LAC, or an NDIS office, and they will be able to assist you to locate them. If your feedback is about the quality of services or supports provided by NDIA registered providers, you can contact the NDIS quality and safeguards commission. They are an independent Commonwealth agency established to improve the quality and safety of NDIS supports and services. For information about making a complaint, visit the NDIS commission website in the links below this video. 

Finally, if you would like to provide feedback to a community or mainstream support provider, you will need to contact them directly through their own compliance process. If you're unsure about what this is, your LAC, the NDIS, or a person who supports you can assist you to find this information. All Australian community and mainstream providers are required to uphold the rights of people who use their services and need to be able to work with you effectively through their feedback and complaints process. If you are unable to engage with their process or unhappy with the outcome of your feedback, again, you can contact your local advocacy service. 

Thank you for participating in this series of implementation topics. We hope this has been informative and helpful for you. If you require further support with any aspect of what we've discussed, please contact your informal support person, the NDIS, your local area coordinator, or support coordinator. APM welcomes your feedback about these videos and the series of topics we've provided for you. We want to be able to continue to refine them and improve them for you and participants into the future. Thank you very much.