One-Stop Shop – Blessing or Curse?

We write our articles with the assistance and feedback of various people. This is the NDIS story of an NDIS participant with the one-stop shop model. It guided our article on the pros and cons of using a business with all the NDIS services you need.

Evie’s NDIS Story:

“In my second plan, I was allocated funding for a Coordinator of Supports. The NDIA mentioned that it can be a good idea to choose someone separate from your regular supports. So I chose an organisation that happens to do other things as well, and agreed they would be my support coordinator.

They looked at my plan (I didn’t know I had the right not to show them all my plan). It’s an uncomfortable position to be in when a service provider asks to see it. They offered their other services – I managed to say no.

Without my knowledge, my new Coordinator of Supports contacted my regular supports for an introductory group meeting. This turned out to be a very awkward and confusing meeting, with my regular supports organisation wondering why they hadn’t been elected to provide the coordination of supports.

Eventually that Coordinator of Supports left and I wasn’t told. I just gave my regular support org permission to be Coordinator of Supports. It seemed less hassle and they knew me and my needs.

Well, this was a bad move.

There was no one person allocated, even though I kept asking who exactly my coordinator of support was. One of my regular support workers was eventually designated. Though she admitted that she didn’t really know what the job was, but thought it would look good on her CV!!

I felt overwhelmed at having to sort it out and didn’t know what to do. The icing on the cake was when I requested – a week in advance – evening support during a difficult time.

The Coordinator of Supports was now my support workers manager. They were very thinly stretched and always took a long time to respond. They eventually got back to me and said that they couldn’t find anyone for those shifts in the organisation, “sorry”.

I was never given options to contact other organisations for support or anything. Just a “no, sorry, we don’t have any workers available”. I later found out from one of my support workers they didn’t even provide support after 6pm any more… Something else I wasn’t told! I was furious because the Coordinator of Supports only got back to me the afternoon before I needed support.

The Coordinator of Supports is supposed to help you find appropriate support, not just look within their organisation. They should also give you options and if you want to, have backup plans for crisis. Not just a no sorry, we don’t have any people. Not to mention they don’t work the hours I requested anyway!!

So that’s my story of the “we can do everything” – but actually aren’t trained, don’t have the time, have poor communication and didn’t look outside of their own interests. I have since gotten an independent coordinator and also signed up with HireUp.”

Stay tuned for our next NDIS story, and other informative articles.