Our last post explored the world of midterm audits, and there was a lot to digest!
As promised, we are breaking down various elements to give you an idea of what to set up.
Your NDIS business needs documentation and tracking systems to ensure safety, quality, and continuous improvement.
Constructing and maintaining various registers is important part of this.
Each register plays a role in maintaining NDIS compliance and adopting a culture of transparency and accountability. Here, we are going to explore the significance and functions of these registers in the context of your support services, highlighting their contributions to your business's operational efficiency and service excellence.
Once you have the registers up and running in a format that works for you and your business, it is a matter of maintaining it.
TIP Set up a regular schedule to update and maintain each register. |
Incident Register
Is the basis of your safety measures, necessary for documenting any incidents during support services, including accidents, injuries, or other events that could impact the safety and well-being of participants or staff.
This register is a comprehensive record that helps you to identify patterns, apply corrective measures, and enhance safety protocols. By systematically documenting incidents and safeguarding everyone involved, your business can ensure prompt responses and prevent future occurrences.
This is the information and format you may wish to use, it is comprehensive and captures the information required by the NDIS:
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Complaint Register
The Complaint Register is your tool for continuous improvement. It will record all complaints from participants, their families, or other stakeholders.
This register is a good way of tracking the nature of complaints and how you will resolve them. Keeping records can identify recurring issues, such as staff not matching your clients or staff that are continuously late.
This then can improve the quality-of-service delivery and keep your customers happy and moving forward with their goal, when you address the issues, promptly.
The Complaint Register also serves as a feedback procedure, providing insights into areas that need improvement and helping to build trust with your customers and their families.
It also shows them you are serious about giving the best service possible because you act and follow through.
Risk Register
The Risk Register is your guide to deliberate planning. It identifies and assesses potential risks associated with business operations and the delivery of support services. These risks can affect the business overall and include staff.
The Register includes your strategies and how you monitor plans to address these risks effectively. For example, you may use the register to show who would take over if a key staff member were away for a period on holiday or sick leave. How would your business survive if there were changes?
The three principal areas that require thought in your risk register are:
Risk description: A brief explanation of the risk.
Risk response: Each risk needs a risk response to mitigate its effect on your business.
Risk ownership: Assigning risk items to a team member who becomes a risk owner, divides the workload. The risk owner is responsible for deploying the appropriate response and supervising it.
Imagine this scenario: You have a customer who, through no fault of their own, is unable to make payments for your services. Everyone is trying to recover the owed amount from the NDIS, but the bill runs into thousands. This situation leaves you working without pay and accumulating debt, while still needing to pay your staff. Challenges like this have been well documented in this sector. How do you manage these risks? Do you have alerts in your customer management system? Is there an action plan in place with your customer?
Risk management is a complex topic, and researching various aspects of it through a simple Google search can help you understand where your business needs improvement. It does not have to be overly complicated.
As a small business, your approach to risk assessment will differ from that of a multinational corporation. Choose strategies that are suitable for your company's size and needs.
Staff Training Register
The Staff Training Register tracks your staff training and development activities. The NDIS requires certain mandatory modules., beyond the usual NDIS worker screening or Working with Children check. They include:
Disaster Management
PPE
Infection Control
TIP Remember, if you have a manager in your business, they are considered “key personnel” and are subject to all mandatory modules, even if they are office bound and do not work with your customers or children. |
You may also provide in house training, or you might have a customer with a behaviour support plan in place, so your staff may require formal training through the Behaviour Support Practitioner.
As a business, you may require other qualifications through a third party or a training company like EtrainU. Keeping the register ensures that you have a solid record and that staff have the skills and qualifications to provide quality support services and comply with the NDIS.
Asset Register
The Asset Register lists all the business's physical assets, such as equipment, vehicles, and property. It includes details about the purchase date, value, and maintenance records. for maintenance and replacements and ensure optimal asset utilisation.
Why does the NDIS need to see your list of assets? Or a financial plan?
The NDIS want to see your financial stability, your accountability and how this will reflect on your ability to provide quality services to NDIS participants.
This will always be comparative to the size of your operations.
This register supports financial planning and accountability, clearly showing your asset base.
Feedback Register
The Feedback Register collects critique, response or opinion from your customers, their families, and other stakeholders about the services provided. It may come from your internet site or word of mouth.
TIP What also works well and can be implemented easily is a regular survey for your customers and or their families to find out how you are doing. These responses can be entered into your register. |
You can make informed decisions, address concerns promptly, and continuously enhance your service offerings by actively seeking and documenting feedback.
The feedback and your responses promotes a participant-centred approach and ensures that you are meeting the needs and expectations of your services.
What people are saying about your business improves service quality and customer satisfaction. Remember, negative feedback is a chance to improve.
Continuous Improvement Register
We covered this topic in depth in our blog post - Continuous Improvement - How it shapes your business.
Where do you find templates? The NDS (if you are a member) often has examples and templates available. You may already be subscribing to a company that supplies audit documentation, they will have examples for you to play around with. Often a simple Google search will find what you need and you can edit to suit your needs.
In summary, the implementation of various registers is fundamental to the effective management of your support services.
Each register—whether documenting incidents, managing complaints, assessing risks, tracking staff training, managing assets, or collecting feedback—contributes to your businesses’ ability to operate well.
It helps in maintaining high service standards, and adopts a safe and supportive environment for your customers and staff.
We wish you well, as always
The Lama Care Team
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