Community nursing has long been associated with district nursing services and mainstream health care. When the NDIS was first rolled out few ‘healthcare’ services such as nursing were funded, however, as it has progressed funding of disability-related health services has and continues to evolve.
Nurses promote health, they can assess and tailor healthcare management plans, provide person-centred support and promote healthcare equity, independence, and inclusion.
Nursing in the home can occur in a few different ways - perhaps it is being visited by a nurse to attend to wound care, complete injections or assist with diabetes management. For more complex medical needs, it can be nursing care in the home to support high-intensity support workers and to provide a greater level of training and support to support workers. Nurses are also great at assisting participants with preventative health care and promoting wellness (something we've spoken about in an earlier article and CP Diaries.)
Preventative healthcare is something I’m really passionate about. Preventative healthcare, as we have mentioned before, is about keeping yourself healthy. An important part of this is having regular health checks and ensuring you are taking steps to live a healthy life and have preventative tests when needed (such as mammograms and skin checks.)
The comprehensive health check is a great tool to complete this all at once and it can be completed by a Registered Nurse using your NDIS funds. The comprehensive health check is a collaborative and holistic health assessment. When nurse-led, the nurse will work through a person’s health history, current health, factors (such as smoking, alcohol use, weight etc.), preventative health check history and compile a report that provides an overview of the person's health now, in the past and looking to the future. This report should then be taken to the GP for the next step in the comprehensive health process where the assessment can be evaluated by the general practitioner and any further investigations (if needed) arranged.
Knowing whether you can use your current funds or apply for additional funds to cover nursing can be tricky, and there still seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to what the NDIS will and won’t fund when it comes to nursing services. Nursing services can be funded using your core and capacity building. Nursing doesn’t need to be specifically mentioned in your plan and there are several line items for nursing depending on its purpose (in-home care or consultation services).
The NDIS currently states, that regarding health support “The NDIS will fund disability-related health supports where these supports directly relate to a participant’s significant and permanent functional impairment and assist them to undertake activities of daily living. These supports are provided individually to participants and can be provided in a range of environments, including, but not limited to, the participant’s own home.”
Nursing services can currently be paid for using Capacity Building- Improved Daily Living or Core- Assistance with Daily Living NDIS funds. Nursing services have been duplicated in both funding categories so that participants have greater access to nursing services if they need them.
Many community nurses are also beginning to complete NDIS assessments that have recently been completed by OTs but traditionally have often been completed by nurses, assessments such as the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS), the Care and Needs Scale (CAN) and the Life Skills Profile.
Nursing Services have so much to offer. CPSN have just launched our new Nursing Services led by me. We look forward to offering our clients and members a range of nursing services.
If you would like to know more, please go to www.cpsn.org.au or give us a call at 03 9478 1001.