This is a story about
why I can't wait for NDIS
(National Disability Insurance Scheme) to commence in the land of OZ.
Miss Chloe has a Personal Trainer to assist to get her fit and out of the Morbid obesity zone. She trains two times a week and is making really good inroads.
I pay for one session and I have a package that pays for the other one, Chloe's PT invoices them directly. Now this is one of those disability organizations we see a bit in this great country that believes they are doing the client a favor, and the client and client's service providers MUST work around them and fit into their boxes.
Chloe's trainer is a micro-business owner. She works for herself and like most
micro-business owners relies on being paid on-time or with the 30 days.
She recently approached me, desperate for some guidance. The disability organization hadn't paid her for 10+weeks...and she had left numerous messages and sent many emails, and had NO response. I was disgusted, as I have lost a service provider before, due to another disability organizations lack of respect or care about paying within an acceptable time. Chloes personal trainer is excellent for Chloe and she really takes her out of her comfort zone. The results have been remarkable. I am not at all keen on losing her, due to this organizations incompetency and lack of decency.
I spoke to my case manager and voiced my concerns. Her supervisor called me back within 24 hours and was lovely. She arranged a manager to call me.
Rude, short and bullying. Silly man, I am not the type to slink away from this behavior. In his words,
"It is very unfortunate that they are 3 months behind,
but accounts are very busy. She will eventually get paid".
I couldn't help but verbalise "would he find it acceptable if they took 3 months to pay him because they are busy?" Well, no, he wouldn't accept that, "but we aren't talking about me..." he said.
He then proceeded to tell me, she should never have spoken to me about the issue, as IT ISN'T MY BUSINESS.
OOOH and of course one of the old favs came out...IT"S A PRIVACY ISSUE!!!
I am really not sure who's business it is when my service provider needs to cut my services because they aren't getting paid. And I explained that she had tried to contact the organisation several times with no joy, so what exactly should she have done?
After a bit of ArgyBargy, they agreed to pay her promptly. I am praying this is every time..not just this time!
When NDIS comes into play, this won't be an issue, as we will be responsible for our own packages and it will be up to us to pay our service providers on time.
AND DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS WHO ARE FULLY SELF-ABSORBED AND BULLYING WILL BE LEFT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.
BRING ON N.D.I.S AND GIVE US BACK SOME RESPECT AND DIGNITY.
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| suedymond.com |
Hi Sue, I to cannot wait until NDIS is fully rolled out. I currently live in QLD but in 10 we will be moving to our new home in Tassie. Thankfully I am able to transfer a years funding for our son down. Our son William is 29 and has DS. I have also been working in the industry for many years and working for a large organisation as a manager. Big service providers are all mainly exactly what you wrote even the one I work for hence the reason I am leaving this line of work to branch out and assist other families in Tassie. Let's hope for some great changes for the future for our children.
ReplyDeleteSue, you are very fortunate to get a years funding transferred from 1 state to another.
DeleteIt does my head in how a person has to go right back to the end of the wait-list when they move States or even suburbs (In Melbourne at least)!!!
They SHOULD be able to take their funding with them!!!
I am praying more small person-focused providers will pop up with NDIS. The big orgs don't seem to have compassion & flexibility in their training...