AHPA response to the Inquiry into Foundational and Disability Supports for children and young people in NSW
This submission was in response to the Select Committee Inquiry into foundational and disability supports available for children and young people in New South Wales.
All Australians, including children and young people in NSW, should be able to access safe, evidence-based allied health services to assist them to realise their potential for physical, social, emotional and intellectual development.
Allied Health Professions Australia recommends:
That a coordinated and expanded ecosystem of supports be established within NSW, based on a nationally consistent framework, to support children and young people with developmental delay and disability. This system must continue to provide access to NDIS services including an early childhood intervention pathway, along with separate but complementary investments in expanded mainstream allied health supports, and a broader system of general and targeted foundational supports.
That reforms to the disability sector, including any changes to NDIS services access, are coordinated and progressed in alignment to support service continuity for people with disability and their families, to allow appropriate planning and co-design to be undertaken, and to support providers and the sector to implement changes.
That allied health professionals are engaged in the design and delivery of foundational and disability services and supports in NSW.
That all children and young people along with their families and caregivers in NSW have access to sufficient foundational and disability supports, including the allied health services they need to support their development, health and wellbeing. Children and young people and their families and caregivers must have choice of the services and providers they use to provide the care to best meet their needs.
That the establishment of new and expanded programs draws on a range of workforce models to support the involvement of allied health providers, including those in the private sector. Failure to do so may result in the available workforce being smaller and less experienced.