Did you know that only 60% of families and carers rated their health as good on average? (Carer Australia) However, health is not the only indicator of well-being. Within the disability community, this might mean a lack of good rest, mental support and healthy activities could cause more significant challenges and impact down the road. And that's where Respite services and Short Term Accommodation comes in.

Short Term Accommodation (STA) a.k.a. respite, refers to the support provided for the short term in a house or a rented place. It is funded under the NDIS Core Supports - Assistance with Daily Life - support category.

What does NDIS Short Term Accommodation include?

NDIS short term accommodation include:

• Support staff throughout the day for self-care
• Medications and personal care
• Social activities and food
• Overnight and short stays
• Group activities (Group of Supports)

Because taking a break from the carer is beneficial to all parties - "Not only does it help maintain positive family and carer relationships, but it also allows you the chance to meet new people and experience new things" Disability Support Guide.

What does it mean for service provider organisations like yours?

The NDIS Short Term Accommodation will include a 24-hour shift provided by multiple staff (ratio of staff to participants). It is provided at the various times that are to be claimed under different line items (claiming for Time of Day and Day of Week). Although the prices accurately reflect the NDIS support costs, it can be confusing and scary when it comes to claims and staff hours without a case management system. In addition, the service delivery to each participant varies depending on their needs and preferences.

How can NDIS case management like Comm.care help you better maintain the service delivery?

Comm.care, a collaborative case management system, is designed around the idea of person-centred care that helps you deliver those personalised services. It helps keeping the admin work to the minimum so you can focus on what you do best.

It helps you and the support workers to quickly and efficiently capture, document and confirm the case notes which will be claimed in bulk through NDIS.

Whether you have two different staff throughout the day or four staff, you will be able to roster them quickly. And the providers can easily capture their notes at the point of care to claim through Comm.care case management system.

Here is an easy step-by-step example of how Comm.care, a full-featured case management system, will translate these various line items into a single invoice, saving you a significant amount of time and effort on any NDIS short term accommodation and respite process.

Step #1: Creating a schedule of support for your participant and assigning the right team

Suppose your participant needs to be provided with 24/7 care with multiple different staff at different times. A single 'Quantity' of Short Term Accommodation (STA) or Respite appointment will claim all the individual schedules or tasks (time, shift, and line items) of each staff member.

To create these appointments, you will need to develop services with all the line items under My Organisation Services within the Comm.care case management system platform. Check out the tutorial on how to create services for your organisation. You will be able to add additional Assistance with self-care line items under the same service labelled as 'STA'.

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Step #2: Assigning your services to the participant's roadmap based on their NDIS service agreement

You will now need to assign that service to the participants you will provide as per their service agreement. Learn more about how to add support services to clients roadmaps from our Comm.care tutorial.

Once you assign the services, you will create different appointments with different staff members(attendees) spread out within 24 hours.

Step #3: Create multiple appointments for the staff with Comm.care's Circle's calendar feature

Creating multiple appointments from My Circle's calendar within Comm.care case management platform is easy as it separates attendees assigned at different times.

While Comm.care is a dedicated case management system, we also provide some HR features like 'staff availability' for the ease of extra workload. With Comm.care you can manage everything within our case management platform.

Hence, while creating appointments for the participant (or what we call, Circle of Care), if the assigned attendee is not available, it will give you a pop-up notification of their occupancy.

Once you create appointments for the Circle of Care with separate attendees, you will be able to see on the Circle's calendar, just like this sample here (in the agenda view)

Now, each attendee will be able to see their allocated shift within their personalised 'My Calendar' area on the Comm.care case management system.

You have now successfully arranged the perfect short-term accommodation or respite plan for your participants!

Comm.care helps you take the stress out of NDIS. With our end-to-end solution case management software, we've sorted out all the complications so you can focus on what matters most.