Victoria has launched a new website to help people with disability find the allied health services they need.
My Allied Health Space provides information, tools and training resources guidance for people with disability and complex support needs, friends, family or carers on how to choose allied health professionals that meet their individual requirements. This can include questions to ask and things to think about when they start working with an allied health professional.
Checklists are also provided for planning and assessing the quality of different types of allied health support as needs change over time. It also offers a range of resources for allied health professionals working in the NDIS.
Funded by the Victoria Government the new site will assist implementation of the new Allied health capability framework: disability and complex support needs.
The site was developed by a consortium, led by Associate Professor Libby Callaway from the Monash University School of Primary and Allied Health Care.
“Achieving best outcomes, choice and control for people with disability was the overarching goal of this work,” she said. “The tools and training resources are aimed at assisting both those people using allied health services and allied health professionals who provide them.”
Allied health professionals will also be able to access online implementation tools and training resources, such as a self-assessment tool with links to resources and professional development guidelines, an organisational checklist for service managers and allied health educators with links to resources and e-learning packages. There are also reference documents that outline behaviours for each capability in the new Allied Health Capability Framework.
One of the team working on this project was NDIS participant Chris LeCerf, who was living as a younger person in a nursing home prior to securing a smart technology enabled unit located on the border of the Monash Peninsula Campus. Through the NDIS he has greater access to funding for allied health support linked to his goals for community living. This required him to think about the type of allied health services he needed and assess the quality of these supports over time.
“The resources on My Allied Health Space have a focus on putting people and their families at the centre of decision making. It places them as experts, working alongside professionals to give them more control over their life and the services they receive.” Using the tools available people are able to take part in decision making and form partnerships with their service providers, he said.
There are around 4.3 million Australians with a disability. Within the next five years the NDIS will provide an estimated 500,000 Australians who have significant and permanent disability with funding for support and services. For many people, it will be the first time they receive the disability support they need.