Managing Limited Hours: Top Tips for Support Coordinators

Support Coordinators constantly need to manage and track their time when providing services to NDIS participants. We reveal what you can do to navigate this challenging environment.

By Mary Ingerton, Managing Director at Support Coordination Academy.

There is never enough time.

For Support Coordinators, that saying regularly rings true.

You are operating in a demanding landscape, balancing the need to adequately support participants while having to manage NDIS funding constraints.

The reality is the NDIS assessment of a participant’s need for Support Coordination often leads to inconsistent allocation of hours for this service.

More so, the assessment does not always account for the complex barriers a participant may be experiencing or the intensive level of Support Coordination services that are potentially required.

We understand your concerns.

So, we’ve created this insightful article that details what you can do to stay ahead of the game.

Navigating a Challenging Environment

As we’ve already touched on, the current NDIS assessment of a participant’s support needs creates challenges for Support Coordinators due to the limited allocation of hours often not accounting for:

• The time it takes to build collaborative working relationships with the participant’s complex support network, to educate mainstream providers or to navigate the interface with the NDIS and the broader community.
• The need for additional hours to flexibly support a participant to manage a crisis, should it occur.
• The time it takes to navigate and manage the complicated and intricate NDIS processes.

What do you do about it?

It starts with a proactive approach.

Despite these challenges, Support Coordinators have a professional responsibility to manage the limited hours available.

A Support Coordination provider must have clear systems in place to ensure:

• The participant has a realistic expectation of the services they can provide with the limited hours available.
• They develop an Action Plan with an agreement of the activities they will complete.
• There is transparency around how a participant will be charged for the hours used.
• The Support Coordination provider continually reviews, assesses and supports a participant to plan for their future disability related support needs, including the need for Support Coordination.

Accepting a Referral

When first accepting a referral to work with a participant, a provider must ensure it has systems in place to gather enough information to assess:

• If it can add value and has the right skills to support the participant to manage their complex situation.
• The participant has the appropriate level of Support Coordination hours available on their NDIS Plan.

If a provider chooses to engage a participant with highly complex support needs with insufficient Support Coordination hours, they need to agree on a proactive strategy to manage the limited hours available.

This could involve supporting the participant to submit an NDIS change of situation form and using the limited hours to gather evidence to support the need for additional Support Coordination hours.

When a crisis occurs, a Support Coordinator’s assessment and planning skills come into play.

They must assess how many hours are available and how long the hours will last, considering the intense level of support required and the time it takes the NDIS to respond.

The key is to assess when an NDIS change of situation form needs to be submitted:

• Does the Support Coordinator wait until they’ve gathered all required evidence to substantiate the need for additional hours, running the risk of using up all the Support Coordination hours available?
• Or do they support a participant to submit the form immediately, providing evidence of the current situation, impact and risk for the participant and notify the NDIA when the Support Coordination hours will run out – and evidence the need for additional Support Coordination hours required?

It is worth mentioning that notifying the NDIS and gathering evidence to substantiate a participant’s support needs can happen concurrently.

A Support Coordinator needs to plan ahead and be as proactive as possible to ensure there are enough hours to support a participant when a crisis occurs.

Evidence of Adding Value

When supporting a participant through a review process, a Support Coordinator must provide evidence of how they will add value to a participant.

This includes how they will support a participant to build their capacity and increase the resilience of their support network. So, in effect, empowering a participant to achieve their life goals.

When Support Coordinators write their reports for the NDIS, they need to provide evidence of:

• How the participant’s impairment and significantly reduced functional capacity impacts their ability to implement and manage their NDIS plan.
• The participant’s future goals and support needs, including how Support Coordination funding will be used to support the participant to build their capacity and achieve their life goals.
• How they have used the hours available to support a participant to achieve their goals, noting strategies to overcome any barriers or risks.

Undoubtably, managing the limited hours available to you is challenging.

While there is no easy answer to ‘beating the clock’, it is clear that having a proactive approach and being as prepared as possible for changing circumstances are vital requirements to performing your role to the best of your ability.

Expert Help Is at Hand

Do you have any questions about this important topic? Or do you require other assistance as a Support Coordinator? Then contact us today.

To help you to build your skills, Endeavour Foundation has partnered with Support Coordination Academy to offer free online professional learning sessions for Support Coordinators.

To register your interest in future webinars, sign up below.

Support Coordination Academy provides essential training and resources for Support Coordinators across Australia.