How NDIS providers can power into the new decade

Australian disability service providers are facing an era of unprecedented change within the sector.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has broken new ground by recognising people with disabilities as consumers - with expectations of high quality, fit-for-purpose services which meet their individual needs.

Gone are the days of generic, ‘one-size-fits-all’ service provision. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is now in place to help providers improve the quality and consistency of their disability services.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability is also underway, digging deep into a range of industry shortcomings.

Service providers across the country continue to struggle to comply with new and changing standards. These concern transparency, conflict of interest, complaints, incident management and employee screening.

In this new decade, how can disability service providers shine a new light on their organisations and overcome these challenges?

Challenging landscape for disability service providers

Lauded for its theory, the NDIS has been plagued with practical problems. A National Disability Services (NDS) study reveals the gap between high expectations and the reality of service provision on the ground.

According to the State of the Disability Sector Report 2019, only 13% of the 667 disability service providers surveyed thought NDIS processes were working well.

75% agreed they faced an uncertain policy environment.
58% agreed the NDIS presented them with ‘too many unnecessary rules and regulations’ to follow.
19% agreed NDIA was working well with providers to implement the NDIS.

Clearly, disability service providers across Australia are hitting brick walls while negotiating a scheme which is still finding its feet.

Higher standards of compliance

Individuals with a disability are now exercising choice in every service they access – from physio and speech pathology to psychology and personal care.

Today’s disability service providers need to be customer-centric in order to survive. The services they offer must be relevant, competitive, cost-effective and financially sustainable over the long term.

A new broom has swept through the sector. In the same way, providers must apply their own clean sweep – throughout their organisation - if they want to succeed in an increasingly complex and regulated industry.

Many providers are aware of ‘grey’ compliance areas. Maybe they’ve been operating for years with less than optimal practices or letting ad hoc processes fly under the radar.

They know they need to change in order to comply. They just don’t know how.

The power of internal auditing

Disability service providers must face and pass a full external audit before having their NDIS registration approved.

As a result, more providers are undertaking internal audits to increase transparency and identify problem areas lurking beneath the surface.

They can then fix hidden ‘nasties’ before the auditor turns them up.

Not all internal audits are created equal, however. Consider ‘audit by spreadsheet’ or ‘audit as you go along’. Maybe ‘audit every now and then, if we can fit it in’. This is how most NDIS providers currently self-audit, where they do so at all – it’s superficial, ad hoc and ineffective. Documents go missing and deadlines elapse . . . a true systems-fail.

There is a better way. Disability service providers are discovering the power of Internal Audit. This is a fit for purpose, cloud-based audit system which lends the process a high level of clarity, consistency and accuracy.

This is a game changer for service providers who risk missing out on NDIS registration or facing penalties for non-compliance.

Intelligent management, smart tools

Internal Audit is industry best practice. It’s the only NDIS-specific self-auditing system available today, allowing service providers to:

Plan, schedule and assess internal audits.
Complete audit questions.
Record and store findings.
Measure and track performance improvements.

This out-of-the-box solution helps providers achieve NDIS compliance and meet a growing list of operational obligations.

Easy to use and fit-for-purpose with failsafe reporting, Internal Audit drives organisations towards 100% visibility. It helps close the gap between what providers say they do and what they actually do.

Systemised internal audits are the quickest, most effective way to give disability service providers control of their organisational compliance.

Alternatively, for an all-in-one system to help remove the complexity from NDIS quality and compliance in your organisation, explore Centro QMS today.