SchemeWise has a responsibility to provide services to participants in a safe manner, and take steps to prevent harm, abuse and neglect. We understand that certain incidents can impact the health, safety or wellbeing of people we work with.
We strive to minimise the risk of incidents (including near misses), but if they do occur, we have an incident management system to record, investigate and manage incidents in connection with providing our services to you.
If you decide to use our services, your service agreement with SchemeWise will inform you how to raise concerns and provide feedback.
We have developed our incident management system based on guidelines produced by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Incident and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018.
What are the key steps for incident management?
The key steps for incident management include:
1. Report
Anyone can identify and report an incident, for example one of our officers, or a customer or a family member. An incident should be reported as soon as practicable so we can take action in response to whether the incident is serious (reportable) or non-critical. Our intent is to ensure people living with disability are immediately safe.
Based on the information you provide about the incident; we will complete an internal incident form and record the details in our incident management system.
The Managing Director will be notified of the incident.
Details of how to contact SchemeWise to raise any concern or provide feedback (including incident management) can be found within SchemeWise service agreement and also its service handbooks. Otherwise, people can also use the Compliments, Feedback and Complaints for on our website to let us know of any incident by clicking here
2. Support
We may need to protect your health and safety and the health and safety of others, and take emergency action if necessary.
We will also be respectful and sensitive to the way in which you may respond to the experience of the incident and provide any appropriate support and assistance throughout the process.
You may want to get some support at any stage of the incident management process. This could be support from us, family or representative, a friend or an advocacy service. An advocate can work on your behalf, or work with you in a way that represents your needs. Some suggestions for advocacy agencies can be found using the Disability Advocacy Finder.
We will also ask you to provide feedback and input into assessments, investigations and any proposed recommendations or actions taken to resolve the incident to our mutual satisfaction. If we cannot
3. Assess
We will assess all incidents to determine:
- why the incident occurred
- whether the incident could have been prevented
- how well the incident was managed and resolved
- future prevention measures and
- who else needs to be notified of the incident.
We will also look at the effect of the incident on the person and any operational issues that may have contributed to the incident occurring.
4. Notify
All reportable incidents, except for the unauthorised use of a restrictive practice, must be notified to the NDIS commission by SchemeWise within 24 hours of us becoming aware of the incident. Any unauthorised use of restrictive practices must be notified within 5 days but reported within 24 hours if there is harm to a customer.
We may also notify the police or relevant authorities to report suspected crimes (including domestic or family violence or any form of abuse, exploitation or neglect) or notify guardians, family or carers where appropriate.
For reportable incidents, the NDIS Commission will determine whether any action is required. If so determined, we will follow that advice.
5. Investigate
At times, we may need to obtain further information about the incident and undertake an internal investigation in such cases where the cause of the incident is unknown or the nature and the impact of the incident is significant. An investigation may take up to 5 business days followed up with a detailed report. Complex investigations may take longer, for example, we may be required to involve other external organisations or interview relevant people.
6. Conclusion and outcome
At SchemeWise we always learn from incidents. We will contact you and inform you and your family / representative/ advocate how we have managed the incident and what we will do differently so that it is unlikely to happen again.
(24/7 automated - we usually respond within 1 business day)
