News

News

COVID 19 Update

The COVID-19 Vaccination Program Team at ACT Health has advised that if anyone feels they may require in-reach into their home because they have significant barriers to access other vaccination options, they can ring the ACT vaccination booking line (02 5124 7700 and choose option 3 for the dedicated disability line). You will be able to speak to someone who will take your information and someone from the COVID-19 Vaccination Program team will reach out and coordinate vaccination in home.

Face masks will be worn by all Sharing Places staff in all situations, unless they are required to remove them to communicate with clients. In accordance with the ACT Health directive, we will not be trying to force people with disabilities to wear masks but, at the same time, we will encourage those who are willing to wear masks to do so in all situations where staff are using them.  For those participants who are unable or unwilling to wear masks, this is not a problem, as we will be amending some programs to ensure the safety of those individuals and the community. 

We will also be asking anyone visiting any Sharing Places venue to wear a mask. 

Sharing Places continues to provide quality support for people with disabilities in the community. Please refer to the Activities page for a list of the type of activities currently being enjoyed.

We will continue to review activities in line with future ACT Health directives.

The Australian Government Department of Health has created a webpage containing COVID-19 advice for people with disability. Click the following link for further information. 

www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/advice-for-people-at-risk-of-coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-covid-19-advice-for-people-with-disability

NDIS News

There are new group pricing arrangements being introduced by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and, as part of the new arrangements, Programs of Support are also being introduced.  While the hourly rates for 1:2 support and 1:3 support used to include non face to face time and capital centre costs (for rent), as part of the new group pricing arrangements these portions of the rate will now have to be claimed separately.  Under these arrangements, claiming all of the individual instances of non-face to face time would have been an unsustainable drain on our resources, however the NDIS is allowing organisations to bundle all of the supports into a Program of Support for 12 weeks at a time.  Although the information attached to your Service Agreements will now be a lot more detailed, the current activities and funding should not be significantly impacted.  If you have any concerns, please contact Mary-Ann Kal (Senior Manager, Participants and Programs).

CARERS RECOGNITION ACT

On 2 December 2021, the ACT Legislative Assembly passed the Carers Recognition Act 2021 (Carers Recognition Act) to formally recognise the essential role carers play in our community.  The Carers Recognition Act provides a set of principles affirming the significance of care relationships.  These principles include key elements, such as respect and recognition, and acknowledge carers’ diverse support needs and circumstances.

The Carers Recognition Act establishes obligations for care and carer support agencies.  These are entities that provide or administer support services in relation to people in care relationships, and can be an ACT Government directorate that manages or delivers support for people in a care relationship, or a non-government agency providing support to people in a care relationship that is funded by the ACT Government. 

If you receive any care services that are provided (or funded) by the ACT Government, please have a read through the Information Sheet and be aware of your rights as carers.  If you have any queries about this information, please contact Mary-Ann Kal (from Sharing Places) on 6290 1964.

Please go to our publications page or see the link below to download a copy of the Carers Recognition ACT, Information Sheet.

sharingplaces.com.au/c/sp?a=da&did=1002798&pid=1653954576

 

A MESSAGE FROM THE SHARING PLACES BOARD

The Covid - 19 Pandemic continues as a threat to the health and well being of Participants, families and staff. The actions Sharing Places put into place to protect everyone were well accepted and all staff have had mandatory vaccinations as Sharing Places is considered a high risk setting.

The Board and Executive staff worked together in establishing financial strategies, future planning and operations. The Sharing Places Board continues to closely monitor the changing circumstances and ongoing impact of Covid-19 on the operations of the organization. We continue to respond to the challenge in a proactive and transparent manner based on the best information and evidence available to us.

The Sharing Places Board and Executive staff are committed to ensuring that the Organisation maintains our strong duty of care to our staff, our participants and other community stakeholders to preserve the safety, well being and continuing high quality of service provision and programmes throughout this period. We will continue the high level of communication and transparency with all stakeholders to keep information flowing.

Importantly the Sharing Places Board is committed to preserving the medium term financial position of the Organisation to ensure we remain viable and continue to provide quality services and keep our staff employed. Our currently strong financial position together with the continuing reviewing and updating of policies , budget and business plans means that Sharing Places should be able to continue to operate now and in the future.

The Sharing Places Board and Executive Management Team.