Ballarat residents will be left to their own devices to navigate the complicated National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) as a local welfare organisation cuts support coordination services.
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Uniting has confirmed its Victorian and Tasmanian support coordination services will close by the end of June 2023 as "demand for this service has gradually declined challenging the program's financial sustainability".
In Ballarat, four support coordinators are out of a job, after Uniting found expectations about the kind of care and support people need and want had changed in recent years.
It's going to do a lot of people's heads in.
- NDIS participant Bobbie Andrews
"We had previously transitioned out of support coordination services in other areas of Victoria in 2021," North West Victoria general manager Annette Kelly-Egerton said.
"We maintained our support in Ballarat because of consumer need and lack of alternative providers in these areas.
"There are now other providers in the community who are delivering support coordination programs as a primary focus of their NDIS delivery, providing alternative options for our consumers when we close."
Redan NDIS participant Bobbie Andrews is concerned about her own and fellow participants' ability to find a new support coordinator while dealing with multiple health issues.
Ms Andrews said her support coordinator gave her the news over the phone on May 4 but she had not had a chance to look into other arrangements through another provider.
"I've been unwell: I was in hospital in A & E on the 6th, then on the 7th I had to get called an ambo - none were available, they called me a taxi and paid for it, and then I was in the short-term ward, now I need surgery - it's really hard," she said.
On returning home from hospital, Ms Andrews tried to get more information from Uniting but said she'd been repeatedly "fobbed off" and left in the dark.
"No one's getting in touch with me, no one's returning my calls, no one's telling me what's happening or why,'" she said.
"Why were they taking on more clients?
"I've only been with them since February - if I had have known, I wouldn't have gone with them.
"This has just stressed me to the max.
"I'm just getting nowhere."
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Ms Andrews said her Uniting support coordinator had dozens of clients in Ballarat and surrounds, some of whom had complex mental health needs.
"There's going to be nothing in place, and some are so dependent on [the coordinator] and they won't understand why.
"They're going to find it really hard processing this.
"It's going to do a lot of people's heads in."
Ms Kelly-Egerton acknowledged "change like this is a challenging process for everyone involved" but said Uniting was offering each participant help to find another provider before it closes its program.
"Many have already taken up this offer and have chosen their new provider," Ms Kelly-Egerton said.
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