Psychosocial Assessment for NDIS Funding Increase: Key Elements

Assessing and reporting on the need for funding increase is more than just commenting on symptom severity and functional impact.

Psychologists are often approached by support coordinators or families seeking an assessment of participants’ functioning and support needs, to build the case for a funding increase and greater supports. Typically, the reason for such a request in the case of participants with psychosocial disabilities may be the following:

Psychosocial + physical health challenges: Participant has physical health challenges co-occurring with their psychosocial disability that require significant support. Though relevant to their functioning and symptom management, they are unaccounted for in the allocated funds because their access diagnosis is a psychosocial disability and not a physical one.

Extent of functional impairment hasn’t been adequately documented: The full extent of functional impairment related to one’s psychosocial disability hasn’t been adequately captured in previous reports (e.g. an OT assessment only might have been insufficient) or funding usage (e.g. significant apathy in participants with Schizophrenia leading to poor engagement with services and under-utilisation of funds), thus resulting in under-funding.

Given these reasons, an assessment and report that is making the case for a funding increase needs to include the following:

-Use of appropriate measures to capture the extent of symptom severity and specific impact on functioning. This includes commenting on cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and relational deficits associated with a diagnosis and relating it back to functioning.

-Reference to previous assessments/reports to capture points of continuity and departure in clinical observation.

-Using data to comment on risk and not just symptoms and functional impact. Risk reporting takes the form of commenting on the risk of exacerbation of symptoms, functional decline, over-use of hospital and emergency services, and harm to self, others, or property.

-Building the case for further supports in light of historical data, current functioning, and projection of risk in the future and commenting on value for money. Evaluating whether this increase is good value for money includes examining cheaper alternatives and commenting on its viability too.