NDIS providers say they’re paying for clients’ care after they run out of funds

NDIS providers say clients are running out of funds and they’re having to make the horrible choice of withdrawing their care, dropping them at a hospital, or paying for it themselves.

Exclusive: Carers looking after a violent, non-verbal man with severe autism were allegedly told by an NDIS staffer to drop him at a hospital after he ran out of NDIS funds to pay for his care.

In a heartbreaking post on LinkedIn Storm Menzies, General Manager at Live Your Best Life Disability Support Services, in NSW, said the man can’t go back to the family home because of the “severe abuse he perpetrates against his mother” and so the business has been paying his $21,000 a week care for the past two weeks.

“We can force the hospital’s hand and leave him there but going to hospital means (for the client) being sedated, restrained and traumatised. This will ruin our relationship (with) this participant and break his trust. What do we do?

“I can’t tell you how many hours we have spent on the phone getting nowhere and how much we have cried this week.”

It comes as the average plan budgets have increased by 7.3 per cent per annum over the previous two years.

The LinkedIn post resulted in an outpouring of support from other NDIS providers, who claimed they were also having to make the horrible choice of withdrawing care for clients, dropping them at a hospital, or paying for it themselves.

Rhys Gorman, CEO of Disability Connect Victoria, has paid up to $90,000 out of his business supporting a client who has run out of NDIS funds.

Rhys Gorman, CEO of Disability Connect Victoria, has two clients in hospital, one since February, who are not sick.

“People are being dumped in hospitals all across the country, Mr Gorman said. “It’s happening because the NDIS won’t recognise the level of care they need before it’s too late.

“Prior to the last six months I only spoke to the hospital liaison officer once, but since then the liaison officer has been on speed dial.”

In another case, Mr Gorman has picked up a $90,000 bill for another man with acquired brain injury, after his funds ran out.

The client, who lives in his own home but tends to abscond, has been on a cycle of having his funding topped up each year, while awaiting a decision on an application for a one-on-one 24/7 care fund package, supported by multiple clinical reports.

NDIS providers say they’re being forced to make the decisions to leave clients at a hospital for care – or pay for their care themselves due to funds running out. Picture: iStock

This time the agency refused to pay the top up. His plan was renewed on May 2, but no longer includes that he needs Supported independent Living. Mr Gorman said this client will be out of funds by December 21 if he continues with his one-on-one carer.

Mr Gorman said he will attempt to claim the $90,000 he’s spent through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which could take months if not years.

“I am confident when we present the situation to an independent panel we will get our money back,” Mr Gorman said. “If I didn’t think the support we were giving was necessary and reasonable I would not be funding it. To be blunt, if we removed his support, he could be dead.”

A spokeswoman for NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said he acknowledged the important role NDIS providers play, but said they “must not claim for services above and beyond those in the participant’s plan”.

“Every participant has an approved allocation of funding, designed to last for the life of their plan,” the spokeswoman said.

She said a participant can request a review or reassessment of their supports if they feel the funds are not enough and added the NDIA can act if a participant has a critical funding shortage.

On Wednesday The Daily Telegraph revealed that more than 300 NDIS patients are in NSW hospitals waiting for a funding package so they can be discharged.

The latest figures show that the average number of days between an NDIS participant being medically ready for discharge and being discharged was 21 days – an improvement from 30 days in the March 2023 quarter.

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