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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-26 Daily Xml
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Disability Services

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:21): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding disability. Following disturbing reports in the media today of staff shortages in a large non-government disability support provider, what assurance can the minister provide to families with loved ones in state-run care that every shift is covered in every home with appropriately qualified staff in line with the NDIS plan of every resident? Will the minister release documents that show the levels of actual staffing and not just rostering in state-run disability care?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:22): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this important area. There has been a lot of reform that has taken place in the state accommodation services since this government came to office and we are very keen on the ongoing continuous improvement within our services. Reforms include rectifying deficits in clinical oversight, poor understanding of compliance, lack of specific leadership over service practice, a lack of client empowerment and engagement, and an inadequate threshold for critical client incident reporting to myself as the minister.

This government has implemented a range of initiatives in response to these deficits, including a restructure to include dedicated liaison staff for families and clients, capacity-building officers to support and empower clients to make their own choices, and quality and safeguarding officers to improve practice within the service. I think I have spoken about this particular issue before, but in June 2020, the Department of Human Services implemented a zero tolerance to abuse to people with disability policy, which included a training and education program for frontline workers.

Our reforms mean that staff, families and clients are much more likely to report issues now than they have been in the past. We have also undergone reviews and continuous improvement of our clinical incident process. For instance, the criteria has been broadened so that I am notified of any incidents that have been reported to other statutory organisations or, indeed, SAPOL and the like.

The feedback from clients and families and staff is that they feel much more supported than they ever have in the past and, while they used to pick their fights in terms of things that they weren't happy with in our service, they now know that they can report any matter to us and that will be taken seriously and improved.

We are very proud of the reform work that has been done to improve the state-run accommodation services. There has also been an audit done against the standards of the NDIS. Unlike most or many services, we also have an unannounced visit system with our internal audit service, so we believe that the standard of care is as good as any.

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