NDIS nursing services are a little different from regular nursing care. Many participants get this support funded in their NDIS plans and experience great benefits.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a support program started by the Australian government to help people with significant or permanent impairments. This program funds a wide range of support services for each participant, depending on their needs. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) conducts several tests and observations to determine which type of support is required for each participant to conclude the right level of support for them. NDIS nursing services are one of the supports funded under NDIS for the participants’ well-being.
When it comes to NDIS nursing services, the program strictly only funds support related to your disability that falls under two categories:
- Capacity building
- Assessment
There are two main types of funding for nursing services, i-e., NDIS and state health system. If there are other nursing services you require that are not related to either capacity building or assessment, you won’t be able to get funds from NDIS. The state health system can provide the funding but not by NDIS.
NDIS Nursing Care
As we mentioned, NDIS funds nursing services in two main categories. In this blog, we will briefly discuss them to help you get a better understanding of this support.
Capacity Building
This category allows you to have a nurse or a support worker to help you with a regular issue like wound care. Capacity building enables you to have regular support from a trained professional.
Assessment
This category is to allow a registered nurse or a professional to assess your condition and recommend the best form of treatment for your well-being. These nurses are not supposed to help you with any task; their job is to only draw an assessment of your condition.
What Should You Consider in Nursing Services?
You should look for the following things when hiring a service provider for nursing services.
Nursing Care Specialization
Nursing services provide different levels of support to each participant. Some might have more complex needs than others that may require high-intensity support from the nurses. While looking for nursing services, you should ensure that you can get specialized support from the nurses. All nurses are not qualified enough to provide high-intensity support, and this might make getting the right support more difficult for you. Hence, it is important to hire nurses who can provide both high and low-level support for the participant.
Qualification
A nurse’s job is different from a support worker. Support workers are only responsible for assisting the participants in their daily lives and community activities, whereas registered nurses are allowed to make recommendations about the participant’s condition. They handle medication and analyze your condition to get to the best conclusion, and all this can only happen in the right way when your nurse is qualified. It is important to ensure that you hire qualified nurses so there’s no mistake when it comes to your health.
Provider’s Reputation
Service providers are usually responsible for connecting participants with registered nurses. All you have to do is hire a service provider, and they will present you with multiple options for nurses. You can then interview them and hire the one that seems the best for you. However, make sure that your provider has a good reputation before you hire them. If you hire someone with a bad reputation, you are already taking a risk, and as a new participant, this might not be the right way. Hire a service provider with a good reputation and let them take care of the rest.
NDIS Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy is another one of the support services that is funded in your NDIS. An occupational therapist’s job is to restore a person’s ability to perform regular activities and enhance their independence. Following are some of the benefits of getting NDIS occupational therapy funded in your plan.
Improves Strength
NDIS participants often struggle with physical strength, and NDIS allows funding for several therapies that help them regain their strength and motion. With occupational therapy, they can easily learn to move around and position their body better. It also decreases pain while they try to regain their strength.
Improves Visual Skills
Visual skills can be compromised after an accident or an eye disease. This problem also prevents the participants from walking straight, as they cannot see clearly. OT helps the participants develop pre-reading strategies that enable their visual skills to get better.
Caregiver Training
It is a challenging thing to witness your loved ones struggle with things, and the participants’ caregivers feel this pain quite often. A part of occupational therapy also helps the caregivers to understand and help participants in a more efficient way. They can learn deeply about the condition, which helps them in drawing better results, and they also feel less guilty about not knowing enough about their loved ones.
Create Adaptive Strategies
Adaptive strategies refer to the techniques built to help someone adapt to their ability to engage in tasks. The job of an occupational therapist is to help participants become independent and enhance their skills so they can perform their routine activities without much help from others. For that, they help in creating adaptive strategies for participants and the ones around them.
Conclusion
Both NDIS nursing services and occupational therapy are a big part of an NDIS plan. While NDIS nursing services might be funded for participants with complex needs, NDIS occupational therapy is often funded easily in every participant’s plan. Both support services have a significant impact on the well-being of each participant, and if you are looking for a service provider who can connect you with these support services, reach out to EnableU. They are experienced service providers and have trained support workers to help you regain your strength and build independence. They provide their clients with holistic care and make sure that they make the most of their NDIS plans.
