Grampians Community Health expands NDIS service to Ballarat

GRAMPIANS Community Health (GCH) has expanded its National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) service support to include the Ballarat region.

On Tuesday this week, GCH took over more than 100 participants in the region previously supported by Ballarat Community Health (BCH). The four existing BCH staff remain at the Ballarat office and will continue supporting the clients under the merged program.

GCH chief executive officer Greg Little said bringing the two teams together created a more sustainable program and enabled the organisation to continue improving its services and better support its staff.

He said the collaborative approach had minimised the impact on participants, who had been supported during the transition.

“Because of our relationship as neighbouring community health agencies and our connections through the Alliance of Rural and Regional Community Health, BCH was keen for the program to continue under the community health umbrella and approached GCH to take it on.

“We were keen because it expands our pool of staff and they can all learn off each other, including a highly qualified Ballarat staff member who can do more intensive support coordination.

“This gives us the capacity to support higher-level clients and more people in our local area.”

GCH has been delivering NDIS programs across the Grampians and Wimmera regions since the scheme was rolled out in 2018. It presently has five support coordinators, one psychosocial recovery coach and three plan management officers supporting 795 NDIS clients.

Mr Little said GCH was well placed to deliver NDIS programs.

“We have the skills, and we are invested in NDIS, so it was logical to combine the program under our banner,” he said.

“Community health is local, founded on the needs of our community and not-for-profit so we make sure everything is put back into the community for the needs of participants.”

BCH chief executive officer Sean Duffy said his organisation was delighted with the merger because NDIS participants and staff were being moved to a like-minded body that shared BCH values.

“Ballarat Community Health will still be here to support people with disabilities through our current services, offering care that is easy to access, affordable, and of good quality,” Mr Duffy said.

The merger is the first time that GCH has offered services from a Ballarat base. It already offers support coordination, plan management and individual support for NDIS participants from its Ararat, Stawell and Horsham sites to the South Australian border.

The organisation plans to continue to look for opportunities to expand what it can offer to NDIS eligible people in the Ballarat region.