NDIS cuts to service providers.

Emma Myers 0:00

Nicole Donnelly is the dietician and mother of a child living with autism, as the owner of a Hunter Valley based mobile dietetic practice servicing children and adults with disabilities, she said she is frustrated by the recently announced NDIS cuts to service providers, which are expected to come into effect July 1.

Nicole Donnelly 0:26

They're not giving us much time to prepare, because this has all only come out in the last week, and the NDIA has implemented a 50% reduction in the hourly rate for provider travel. And this applies to dietitians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists, psychologists, and at the same time, therapy rates have remained stagnant, with no increase for OTs and speech pathologists and actual rate reductions for some disciplines like physiotherapy and dietetics. So as of the first of July, physiotherapy are having a $10 per hour reduction in their rate, and dietetics and podiatry, $5 for people who can't go into a clinic or it's not appropriate for them, they're going to lose out on services because providers aren't going to get paid to do the travel anymore.

Emma Myers 1:19

And how would that affect you as a service provider?

Nicole Donnelly 1:25

I'm a mobile service. I don't do clinics, because I'm providing the service in the client's natural environment, which is evidence based to be best practice. That means that I'm going to continue seeing clients, but I'll only get paid for 50% of the travel I do, so I'm going to be operating a loss. So I don't know for how long I can do that, or it means that I shut up shop completely, and clients lose out on a service. So the pricing changes mean providers will now be underfunded for every minute they spend driving, forcing many to either reduce their service areas or withdraw from in home work entirely. This means participants who cannot attend clinics due to physical disability, sensory sensitivities, behavioral changes or lack of transport, will lose access to services. For example, for me, working in the hunter, I travel to Newcastle Lake, Macquarie and upper Hunter, where there isn't other services available. So if I'm no longer able to travel to those places, then the participants won't be able to see me. So this means that the most vulnerable participants, those with complex needs and limited support, will be hit the hardest.

Emma Myers 2:31

You said that your son has a disability. How will he be affected by the cuts? 

Nicole Donnelly 2:37

Charlie is nine years old. He has a diagnosis of ASD level two, and he has a physiotherapist, a psychologist, occupational therapist, and he's made significant progress since getting therapy, and he's attending a mainstream school in a mainstream class, if the therapist can no longer travel to see him, I can't work full time and take him to appointments in clinics, which means he'll lose out on therapy, which means he'll go backwards, which means he might not be able to continue in a mainstream class, in a mainstream school, get a mainstream job and Have a mainstream life.

Emma Myers 3:21

We've heard that a lot of service providers are unhappy with the cuts and the changes happening. So what's being done about it in your cohort?

Nicole Donnelly 3:33

So the Allied Health are all banding together at the moment, and we're asking to abolish the price reduction. The NDIA are basing their therapy pricing comparisons on Medicare and private health insurance, where gap payments are allowed in the NDIS, gap payments are not permitted, so the comparison is not valid or sustainable. Providers cannot legally charge above the cap, meaning many are now delivering services at a financial loss. For me, personally, what I find difficult is that the NDIA have been therapist bashing for the past few years, and people have been getting this messaging that we're all just driving our Lamborghinis and putting decks on our holiday houses, when the reality is, for every hour that I get paid, I do at least one to two hours of unpaid work. I'm doing it for the passion, because I care about people with disability, and have done for 17 years, and I live very modestly within my means. Can't afford to go on holidays or do any of these things because I'm not making a profit, I'm operating at a loss. So I think that the public need to know this, because they're told that we're making all this money and we're not.