MEMBER & CLIENT SERVICES

MEMBER & CLIENT SERVICES NICOLA WASHINGTON GENERAL MANAGER MEMBER & CLIENT SERVICES Welcome to the winter edition of our Member & Client Services Bulletin. We have certainly been through a strange time over the past few months and one that has impacted the world in a way that no one could have predicted. I am sure you will agree that we have been lucky in Australia not to have seen the numbers that other countries have experienced with COVID-19, which has enabled us to get back to some sort of normal quicker than originally expected. The great news is that our group and social support activities have resumed, including the return of Outreach at designated Service Centres. I know our Members and our staff have missed being together and it is great to engage with everyone again, albeit at an appropriate distance. As we get back to ‘the new normal’ there are some things that we will keep in place to assist with service delivery. Our online Telehealth will remain in place as an option for delivery of services where it is appropriate to do so. This will provide additional choice to you, the Customer, on how you receive your services. We have all become used to communicating in different ways through Zoom, Webex, Teams, FaceTime etc which have all proved to be great platforms to communicate across and I do not see these disappearing any time soon. Our Customer Satisfaction Survey has been analysed and the results are reported on pages 22-23. Thank you to everyone who completed the Survey. We are already working on what we can improve. One of the areas we are focused on is communication. We are committed to providing you with regular touchpoints and our Customer Engagement team will be keeping in contact with you to get your feedback and your preferences on communication. The NDIS March quarterly results summary: / 27,780 participants have entered the scheme since July 2013. 27,379 of these continue to be active. / 12,349 active participants are receiving supports for the first time. / In the current quarter, 3,151 participants have entered the scheme. / 6,645 plans have been reviewed this quarter. / 3,515 access decisions have been made in the quarter, 2,828 of which met access and are still active as at 31 March 2020. / 208 (6.6%) of the new active participants this quarter identified as Indigenous, taking the total number of Indigenous participants in WA to 1,685 (6.2%). / 365 (11.6%) of the new active participants this quarter are Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD), taking the total number of CALD participants in WA to 2,265 (8.3%) / North East Metro has the highest number of active participants (5,240), while Goldfields-Esperance has the lowest (431). The number of participants in the NDIS has grown with over 12,000 receiving support for the first time which is great news. Wait times continue to be an area needing review as outlined on page 12. If you do have any questions regarding your NDIS plan please do not hesitate to contact ndisenquiries@mswa.org.au. Our team of dedicated staff are always here to help you navigate any problem or question you may have. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Customers for being flexible and working with us over the past few months to maintain our service delivery, albeit in a different way, and to our incredible staff for their commitment, hard work and dedication. Thank you. 6

RESEARCH MSWA RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS Professor Sulev Kōks with Professor Carolyn Young (who designed and leads the study in the UK). Taken when she visited the Perron Institute last year. Recruitment well under way for TONiC study The Perron Institute is continuing its recruitment of people with motor neurone disease (MND) for the pilot TONiC study, a project proudly supported by MSWA. TONiC (Trajectories of Outcome in Neurological Conditions) is examining factors influencing quality of life for people with neurological conditions. It originated in the UK and is the largest study of its kind in the world. The aim is to improve services for people living with conditions such as MND by identifying quality of life aspects that are important to them, but which may be underestimated by current service provision. The WA TONiC study is led by Professor Sulev Kōks, head of Genetic Epidemiology Research at the Perron Institute and Murdoch University. With the help of the Motor Neurone Disease Association of WA in reaching out to potential participants, there has been a good response, with questionnaires sent out and some already completed and returned. “We are pleased with the initial response from patients in the community so far,” Professor Sulev Kōks said. “Feedback from participants in the pilot study will be used to tailor the questionnaire for Western Australian patients in the next stage of the project.” CEO Marcus Stafford AM said he was pleased to be able to support this important research. “Although this study is initially targeting MND, I know the team have the intention to broaden the research to include people with multiple sclerosis and possibly other neurological conditions,” said Mr Stafford. “This is fantastic. It’s great to be able to fund research that looks into a debilitating disease such as MND, and the fact the research can be extended to a wider group only makes it that much more exciting. Watch this space.” For more information on the study, please contact Leanne Jiang: leanne.jiang@perron.uwa.edu.au or see the Perron Institute and MSWA Facebook pages. 7