CHSUG3003 Health Policy: Analyzing the NDIS Theoretical Basis

This report provides an analysis and critique of the theoretical basis underlying the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia. It examines the strengths of the NDIS philosophical approach, such as its potential to empower disabled individuals and promote a market-based system for service provision. The report also highlights challenges, including difficulties faced by Aboriginal Australians in accessing the scheme, complexities in the administrative processes, and potential oversights in addressing the specific needs of individuals with mental or intellectual disabilities. The analysis considers different perspectives, including those of practitioners, service users, and consumer advocates, to provide a comprehensive overview of the NDIS's impact on access, equity, and overall effectiveness in supporting differently-abled people.

Analyze and critique the theoretical
basis (underlying philosophy) of an
identified contemporary health
policy/intervention: The NDIS

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Main context.........................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................4
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Introduction
The national disability insurance scheme is one of the most important social policies that has
been developed and implemented in Australia. The NDIS provides support to disabled
persons. The disability can be physical, intellectual, sensory, cognitive and psychosocial in
nature. The NDIS provides support to develop the necessary skills and improve them. The
NDIS is not a welfare system. The NDIS empower the disabled person to take independent
decisions regarding their care. Any Australian citizen or resident or permanent visa holder
below 65 years of age and disabled are eligible for the NDIS. The NDIS was established in
accordance with the report of the productivity commission. Earlier the state government used
to provide specified services to the disabled persons. The average individual allocation fund
is $39,600 annually. The concept of diversity encloses acceptance and respect. The NDIS is
one of the largest investments in human services. It is an essential vehicle for positive
changes not only for the disabled persons but for the Australian society as a whole
(Carnevale, 2012).
Main context
Strengths of the philosophical approach of NDIS
The respondent has seen many positive challenges and opportunities at the same time. No one
should be missed out from the benefits of the services (Dettenkofer, 2013). The sector must
shift from a not so profit organization to an organization for providing services and not for
loss. The transition to the NDIS presents a chance to all other organizations to move to
traditional profit-making organization to meet the requirements of the participants in a
competitive market. The organization's main purpose was the fulfillment of purpose but in
order to achieve the desired result importance must be given to the efficiency, resource
management and adoption of technology. Vision, culture, mission and the ability to utilize the
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sovereignty are the strength of an organization and they are quite evident throughout the
research programme. It might be possible for larger organizations to secure the financial
future but opportunities for development exists for those who provide services utilizing
technology and look at some alternate revenue generation programme. The organization must
ensure that the work on the opinion of the clients and must try to retain the talent at all level
of the enterprise (Dunbar, Reddy & May, 2011).
Challenges of the philosophical approach of NDIS
The team does not have sufficient confidence that the information will reflect the final NDIS
after implementation. They do not have a sufficient conclusion about the future operating
project. Some organizations are waiting for the NDIS commencement to get some local
insights and market intelligence prior to making a strategic decision. There is a need for an
organization to check the continuous flow of cash particularly in the early days of the NDIS.
The need for the organization that carries out branding, customer engagement, marketing, and
organizational expansion or management, as they shift into the NDIS environment. The
benefit of the NDIS for service users is the independence to choose the service producers and
the kind of services (Ergas, 2013).
The aboriginal peoples of Australia with severe disability face many difficulties in accessing
the benefits of NDIS. The people have faced isolation and fear about leaving behind alone.
The rate of disability is more common in the aboriginals than other Australians. Sometimes
more than one disability may occur compressing the life expectancy. It has been estimated
that more than 60,000 aboriginal people in Australia are suffering from a severe disability.
The disable indigenous people face greater inequality in the in terms of social wellbeing and
health. The NDIS is not accommodating the unique needs of any indigenous people of
Australia. The NDIS is providing support packages of $50,000 per person per year but they
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are not translated into actual expenditure as there is lack of any disability services that the
NDIS participants could purchase (Franckhauser, 2013).
An aboriginal community was poor enough to purchase blankets but on being demanded the
NDIS replied that they are not liable to purchase blankets for the poor aboriginals. The
wheelchair provided to another group of aboriginal with deformity was not suitable for them
as there is no footpath and the excess heat can melt away the tires of the wheelchair. The
wheelchairs designed for use in urban areas cannot be used in rural areas. The houses that are
built for them under the remote housing scheme are not friendly to the person with a
disability. The houses built by the NDIS has a designing fault and do not meet the survival
basis of the disabled persons (Healthcare Editorial Office, 2014). The proponents of NDIS
may say that it is not established to provide welfare. It is a part of the insurance scheme. To
provide blankets and food are not within the preview of the NDIS. The NDIS is devoid of any
strategy and is a market-based scheme. The NDIS has no plans to develop a workforce to
meet the demands of the disabled aboriginal people.
Persons with mental or intellectual disability are not getting the full benefit of the NDIS
because of its complex nature. The benefits are not received by the people in need due to
certain difficulties. The people with intellectual difficulties found it difficult to access the
benefits of NDIS because the NDIS often overlook the specific needs of the mentally
disabled persons. The mentally disabled person needs some extra time to build trust with the
service employees. Sometimes services do not reach to the mentally disabled persons as they
live in an area where services are lacking. The shortage of mental health services in the rural
area can affect the general population too (Kendrick, Ward & Chenoweth, 2017). Health
staffs often do not have adequate training on how to deal with patients who are mentally
disabled. The NDIS is delivering necessary support to some but others are missing out
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because two persons with the same severe disability can have different goals and can need a
different kind of support. There is a significant problem in the way the NDIS is working and
the problems are being reported regularly (May et al., 2017). The NDIS is established so that
disabled persons can have choices and control over their own lives. The participants are not
given an opportunity to view the plan before being finalized. They can only see the plan after
being finalized by the national disability insurance agency. Administrative difficulties are
caused by this approach of NDIS. Disabled persons should be treated with the dignity they
deserve.
Presenting disability issues from different perspectives
The National Disability Insurance Scheme shows the challenges for both practice and policy
in rolling out the reforms. The practitioners face issues in operationalizing the rules and
regulations implemented by NDIS. The service provider faces issues in transitioning or
entering into the new market (May et al., 2017). The service user’s perceptions are concerned
with the experiences of the schemes. The complex administrative arrangements and corporate
governance, complexities in the market structure, a wide range of circumstances and needs
are posing significant challenges to the practitioners and policymakers. Apart from this, tight
timelines, competing priorities, jurisdictional ambiguities, and high expectations are also the
factors that are imposing huge challenges for the practitioners. The increase in the rate of
disability is also creating huge problems for practitioners. It has become important to
implement appropriate rules and regulations.
It is being found that many people who are disabled have no or less knowledge about the
National Disability Insurance Scheme which imposes an impact on the services that they
receive. The issues have been raised due to the complexities in the design of the policy. The
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practice needs to be translated because the policy has many challenges. The perspective of
the service users is to have control and choice in the National Disability Insurance Scheme
with the objective of capturing the experiences of the people who are suffering from the
disabilities, providing care and supporting their families. The service users have to comply
with the rules and regulations in order to develop trust over the scheme. The service users are
concerned about the capacity of the system for meeting their needs and decreasing the stress
among service providers and care planners. The perspective also depicts who are going to
organize the program for supporting under the National Disability Insurance Scheme
(Robinson, 2014).
People with disabilities have to submit stories in order to determine the situation all over the
nation. People should talk about the social circumstances and depicts that the positive and
strong stories assist to engage the whole community. Having a good advocate is considered to
be important and the service providers should listen appropriately to the advocate. The
activity needs to be done when the advocate knows about the ordinary behavior of the person
and determining something which is going wrong. The collaboration between service and
person is considered to be significant as well as between disability and mental health
services. Support planners who possess good interpersonal skills and good communication
can encourage people and advocate people. It is being found that people with strong
advocates leads to positive results in NDIS. NDIS is focusing on fulfilling the rights of the
people that have complex needs in order to get benefits from new services that are being
available within the scheme. The investment in training is considered to be significant for the
services, planners, people with disability and carers (Thill, 2014).
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Conclusion
The NDIS is a market based strategy and devoid of any scheme. The NDIS has no clear cut
policy for the disabled of rural and urban areas. However, the disabled people of rural and
urban areas have special kind of requirement. The participants are not allowed to take part in
the policy making procedure of NDIS. They are only allowed to view the final plan. This
kind of short comings should be fixed to make the NDIS more efficient.
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References
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