MEMBER & CLIENT SERVICES

MEMBER & CLIENT SERVICES NICOLA WASHINGTON GENERAL MANAGER MEMBER & CLIENT SERVICES Welcome to the winter edition of our Member & Client Services Bulletin – and what a cold start it has been. When I moved to Perth from the UK, I did not think that I would see the scraping of ice from cars in the morning again. Well, I was certainly wrong on that assumption, when we hit some of our lowest temperatures on record through June. Probably the first time I have seriously considered the need for a big winter coat and woolly hat! As we close out another financial year, and one that has been unpredictable and incredibly challenging for everyone, it is fantastic to report another successful year. The dedication of the team and the flexibility of our Clients has enabled us to record an increase in service hours delivered across our Client base. It is great to see more people living with a neurological condition gaining access to funding through the NDIS for essential services and support. Our Client Satisfaction Survey returned some great results. You can read these on page 24-25 but once again it was fantastic to record an overall satisfaction rate of 90%. As always, we will be working on more improvements over the next 12 months and already have a number of projects started that will improve our delivery of service to you, our Clients, including new systems to improve our processes and engagement with both staff and Clients. This edition sees the start of a series of articles on pain management (p. 19). We know this to be a much-discussed topic amongst our Clients and hope to bring you some helpful information on the subject from a variety of our practitioners. Our annual Client forum is scheduled to be held in September, all being well. This is a great forum to attend where you can hear our experts talk about the latest in research and new technologies, and how we at MSWA contribute to the latest innovations. Keep an eye out for the details, we look forward to welcoming you to this forum. NDIS NEWS It has been eight years since the National Disability Scheme (NDIS) started back in July 2013 and is currently supporting more than 450,000 Australians living with a disability, including 260,000 Australians who never previously received support. The National Disability Agency (NDIA) released in July an interim update to the Financial Sustainability Report. Numbers reported on forwardlooking assumptions. / NDIS expenditure could grow to .7 billion in 2024-25 which is .8 billion above the current Portfolio Budget Statement estimates. / NDIS expenditure could be .6 billion higher than the Portfolio Budget Statement estimates over the four years from 2021-22 to 2024-25. / Participant numbers could reach 682,760 at 30 June 2025 and 870,761 at 30 June 2030, compared to the Productivity Commission estimates of 582,860 at 30 June 2030. The NDIA continues to review the scheme to improve participant experience and continued sustainability and growth of the scheme. If you have any questions regarding your NDIS plan, please do not hesitate to contact ndisenquiries@mswa.org.au Our team is always ready to help you navigate any problem or question you may have. 6

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT TEAM IMPACT OF AGED CARE ON THE COMMUNITY In the 20 years since we narrowly avoided the Y2K bug and said hello to a new millennium, the proportion of the population aged 65 years and above increased 4% to 16.3% nationally. This group is projected to increase rapidly over the next decade as further cohorts of baby boomers (those born between the years 1946 and 1964) turn 65. This growth means that more and more people will be utilising aged care packages for their ongoing support. In fact, as of 30 June 2020, there were 11,049 people accessing aged care services in the community while another 16,210 individuals are being supported within the residential care sector. With these significant numbers of participants, a greater focus is now being placed on the impact the aged care sector has on our community. In December 2020, a number of Western Australian aged care providers engaged research firm ACIL Allen to produce a detailed study quantifying the important economic and social impact of the aged care sector to Western Australia. The report released in May examined the aged care sector across three metrics including ‘economic contribution’, ‘economic impact’ and ‘the social return of the aged care sector’. The result was startling, finding a large and growing sector that makes a massive contribution to the community. The report estimated that in 2019- 20, the aged care sector directly contributed billion to the WA economy, equal to one in every seven dollars of activity across the entire healthcare and social assistance sector. Additionally, one in every 25 FTE jobs across WA were directly or indirectly supported by the aged care sector. To put that into perspective, the FTE jobs created as a result of WA’s aged care sector in 2019-20 is equivalent to the total number of people employed by Rio Tinto, BHP, FMG and Woodside combined. Perhaps the biggest impact the aged care sector had was the social impact its funding can have on participants and their families. The report measured social impact based on healthcare cost savings, improved health outcomes, direct economic value, carer participation in the workforce and the relief of direct care requirements for family members. The largest benefit was from the productivity benefits provided by the aged care sector. In particular, the report estimated that the aged care sector assisted the WA community to the tune of .8 billion through the avoided loss of productive labour resources. The report points to a sector that is making a significant difference to the community. In late 2019, MSWA joined the sector by becoming a registered aged care provider. Our goal mirrors that of the providers surveyed within this report in helping to improve participants’ health outcomes and supporting families to be active participants in the community. Entry into the aged care sector also allows us to provide ongoing support to those missed by the NDIS and other funding schemes due to their age. Over the coming months we will be working to grow our Home Care Package participant numbers and support our Clients to maintain their health and independence. Like the Western Australian economy, as MSWA continues to grow, the aged care sector will bring a significant impact, allowing us to support more and more Clients. If you would like to read the full report it is available by typing ‘Economic and Social Impact of the Aged Care Sector in WA’ into your search engine. GEOFF HUTCHINSON MANAGER CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT 7