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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-03 Daily Xml
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DISABILITY SERVICES GOVERNANCE RESTRUCTURE

In reply to Mrs REDMOND (Heysen) (28 October 2008).

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Northern Suburbs, Minister for Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability): I am advised:

Under disability governance reforms the former disability health units incorporated under the SA Health Commission Act, namely the Independent Living Centre (ILC), the Intellectual Disability Services Council (1DSC) and Julia Farr Services (JFS) were dissolved and the functions and staff of these health units were transferred to the Department for Families and Communities.

Disability Services was formed within Disability SA, a division of the Department, on 1July 2006, following the dissolution of the Boards of IDSC and ILC on 30 June 2006. The Board of JFS, incorporating Brain Injury Options Coordination (BIOC) and Adult Physical and Neurological Options Coordination (APN) was dissolved on 30 June 2007.

Savings in excess of $1 million have been achieved in the provision of corporate services, by integrating these functions into the department. Most of the savings have been as a result of process improvements and the creation of job efficiencies, with the resultant need for less staff. Savings have been achieved across all corporate services areas including, finance, human resources, payroll, information and knowledge management, procurement and facility services. It should be noted that reduction in staff numbers has been achieved through natural attrition or through placement of excess staff in vacancies in other areas of the Department.

The dissolution of the governing boards of these health units has enabled the government to improve accountability and control over operations. Three Chief Executives have been replaced by-one Executive Director. Consolidation of services has taken time to achieve and business process improvements are still on-going.

Prior to the formation of Disability SA, the former health units operated independently with different sets of policies and procedures, resulting in different outcomes for clients. The new Disability SA provides consistency and equity of service through a single set of operating policies and procedures.

The new system aims to deliver a single system of government provided, disability services that is easy for individuals and families to understand and obtain assistance from. It has resulted in significant improvements to client and carer outcomes.

A single point of access has been established for Disability SA services, includes a call centre for enquiries and referrals and a central intake team. As a result, waiting times for assessment have reduced from a previous high of twelve months in some areas to less than one month. Where a person contacts Disability SA with a need that can be addressed by the provision of information or brief assistance, this is provided immediately without the person having to be placed on a waiting list or having to meet any eligibility criteria. Eligibility is now determined more on the basis of the person's functioning, with less emphasis on the need meet specific diagnostic criteria, and consequently fewer people are falling through service gaps.

An across-disability focus rather than a diagnostic specific focus, enables one service coordinator to work with a family with different needs rather than multiple coordinators as a result of different diagnoses.

Brokerage budgets have been devolved directly to regional offices. These funds are used to purchase services for clients. This has meant that regional managers have considerable flexibility and delegation, to be able to respond to client needs, irrespective of disability type. As a result, response times in providing services have improved, particularly for country clients.

Prior to the formation of Disability SA and the Accommodation Placement Panel, there were multiple waiting lists, contact points and criteria for accessing supported accommodation. This did not always result in the person with the highest need receiving the next available vacancy. Under the new arrangements, Disability SA has developed a single process and the allocation of accommodation places to those in greatest need through the Accommodation Placement Panel. Since its inception the panel has found accommodation services for 149 people. Approximately half of these people assisted were in hospital, waiting to be discharged to the community.

A new state-wide equipment service has been developed resulting in more repairs being done in the home and simpler processes resulting in reduced volume of repairs and waiting times.

In the first year of operation as the single system of government-provided disability services, there was a 62% increase in the number of clients of disability services (from 8,598 in 2005-06 to 9,128 in 2006-07) and a 4.9 % increase in occasions of service provided by disability services (from 10,278 in 2005-06 to 10,777 in 2006-07).

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