Flexi Queensland

Not to dampen the enthusiasm of the passing of the NDIS legislation last week - but there are still plenty of minefields out there - and we need to hasten slowly if we are to avoid the flack the lawyers are going to be the only medics around.

National Disability Services chief, Ken Baker, has stated that the disability workforce in Australia will have to double in the next five years ahead of the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, but this is a trifle compared to the other issues we face.

Efforts to attractand retain people to the disability support workforce are the subject of papers, presentations and workshops across the nation now - let alone over the next 5 to 6 years.

The price tag for the new iteration of the NDIS - DisabilityCare, is not just the dollars that have to flow from the public purse - there is an unseen price that is not widely debated within the sector.

For people entering this work as private service providers there is a price around continuity and casualisation of work, lack of structured support and supervision from a professional backup team. Isolation as a sole worker is well documented, but this is an environment that a worker just has to trust the family or individual is going to pay them without difficulty, will they get sick leave? Will they be covered for workers compensation? Issues around workplace bullying and abusive work practices are not restricted to large company behaviour.

Why would an host organisation take on the hideous level of responsibility to only manage the HR component, or the financial reporting of a self managing person?

Families taking up the reins of self management must become skilled in the issues around managing their funding and in the employment of staff. Issues such as Occupational Health and Safety, ensuring WorkCover and managing sick leave and holidays are only the tip of a very big iceberg.

Families who have been used to all this being managed on their behalf now have face a world where every interaction has a price tag. A common need such as changing a worker, or service time or adding a service or outing  will be costed, and this cost will increase if/when the family or individual experiences a crisis and needs additional, different or more skilled support. The person with a disability will pay full price for every consultation, every skill, every training component needed. If the family or individual decided to save money by training the worker themselves - say in peg feeding - and something awful happens - how will the worker not be (literally) in the firing line?

Hasten Slowly is the advice we have to all parties as we enter this new world, we need to clear the minefields - or the medics will be the only ones left on the field.