Patients with disabilities, including those living in supported accommodation

Patients with disabilities, including those living in supported accommodation

To comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (amended 2018), you must ensure that people with a disability or impairment can access the practice and its services in ways that maintain their dignity.

The RACGP and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) have co-designed new resources to help GPs support their patients to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

A dedicated GP and health professionals page is now available on the NDIS website, including responses to GPs’ most frequently asked questions, along with links to important information about the scheme and access processes.

The co-designed resources include:

• a NDIA Access Assessor video, providing eligibility and supporting evidence tips
• a Providing evidence to support an access request – tips from a GP colleague video which involves two GPs discussing a patient’s eligibility for the NDIS, and sharing useful tips for when completing an Access Request Form
• a ‘Helping patients navigate access to the NDIS’ brochure which provides information on which other professionals, such as practice nurses, practice managers, or allied health professionals, can assist GPs in completing parts of the NDIS Access Request Form
• a Six-point eligibility checklist, giving GPs a quick and easy way to find out if a patient may be eligible for the NDIS.

The NDIS website also contains links to several other resources which have all been reviewed and endorsed by RACGP GPs. These include a range of practical guides, such as MBS billing scenarios, resources specific to psychosocial disability, multilingual patient information, quick links to NDIS forms, and a video library providing a range of perspectives on the NDIS.

COVID-19

The NDIS website contains the latest information and support on COVID-19 including:

• COVID-19 accessible resources
• Distribution of Rapid Antigen Test (RATs) to Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers
• COVID-19 vaccination
• State and territory COVID-19 resources
• Improving ventilation in indoor spaces
• COVID-19 temporary support measures.

As with all medicines, patients or carers will need to provide informed consent for these medicines to be prescribed/ administered. GPs working with patients with a disability may find it helpful to pre-emptively discuss these medicines with their patients, even if they do not have COVID-19, to determine eligibility criteria and obtain pre-consent for these medicines to be prescribed in the event they test positive for COVID-19. A subsequent discussion is advised at the point at which the patient requires the medicine to confirm the pre-consent is still applicable.