01 November 2012
A new report from the peak body for disability services in Australia on the readiness of the sector for a National Disability Insurance Scheme reveals workforce development, costing of services, contracts and accounting for individual service as key pressure points.
National Disability Services released the report following a national poll of more than 500 disability service providers, including Vision Australia, between August 2011 and June 2012.
The report, 'Progress for Providers' is the first comprehensive national snapshot of disability service providers as they gear up for individualised funding and service delivery. Every organisation responding to the poll received a benchmarking report or 'snap shot' of their own progress relative to all respondents in their state or territory.
The report is timely given the NDIS is due to launch in 8 months' time. To date the federal government has allocated $122.6 m over four years to prepare the disability sector for the NDIS, with a focus on the launch locations.
Results of the report show workforce development is presenting challenges for service providers. Other areas where service providers indicated some unease about their state of readiness include costing of services, contracts and accounting for individual service responses. Smaller organisations said they were challenged across all areas of change, but indicated they were comfortable with 'community focus' and 'improving lives'.
The poll was conducted by state based NDS organisations and Vision Australia provided input through various states. The results for Vision Australia show we are making progress on areas such as improving lives, having a community focus, and marketing.
However, key areas where we felt we needed to do more included leadership, changing culture, costing services, contracts, invoicing, accounting, staff support, workforce development, marketing - customer focus, and learning from individuals.
It is hoped the reports will facilitate conversation and planning within organisations, while also contributing to the evidence required to direct large scale investment to prepare the sector for a NDIS.
The full state based and national reports are available to NDS members at www.nds.org.au