Tracheostomy Care for NDIS Participants

Yes. Tracheostomy support is one of the high-intensity supports we deliver, at home, in the community and in supported accommodation. Every worker is trained and assessed as competent against the NDIS high -intensity support skills descriptors on that participant’s specific tube, with registered nurse oversight behind them.

Both, in different roles. Trained support workers deliver most day-to-day care. A registered nurse assesses the person, contributes to the plan with your treating team, trains and signs off each worker, reviews the records and handles escalation. Full nursing shifts are used where a ventilator is involved or the tracheostomy is new.

That is the aim, and with a tracheostomy it matters more than with most supports. Competency is assessed person by person and the NDIS Commission recommends reassessment after three months without delivering the support. The Australian disability sector runs an average annual turnover of 17% to 25%. Maple holds a retention rate of 96%, with annual turnover under 4%.

Yes. The skills descriptors require a second trained worker to be available for tracheostomy dressing and tie changes. We roster for it rather than treating it as an exception.

We acknowledge referrals within two hours during business hours, and we average five business days from referral to service commencement. Where worker training and competency sign-off are needed first, we build that into the start date rather than skipping it. Engage us before discharge day wherever possible.

Around 80% of our workforce comes from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and we speak more than 50 languages between us. With an airway, emergency instructions have to make sense the first time, so we match on language wherever we can.

Tracheostomy care at home covers stoma and skin checks, inner cannula cleaning or replacement, dressing and tie changes, humidification, suctioning when clinical signs call for it, and documentation. A health practitioner writes and oversees the plan that sets the detail.

Yes, once an appropriately qualified health practitioner has trained them and assessed them as competent, and they are working to a plan that the practitioner oversees. Competency is specific to the individual participant and does not transfer between people.

Only if they choose to. Family carers who want to be hands-on should be trained by an appropriately qualified health practitioner and formally assessed before doing the task independently. The NDIS can fund that training through Capacity Building.

The NDIS Practice Standards skills descriptors require a second worker to be available to replace tracheostomy dressings or ties. One person secures the tube while the other changes the strap, reducing the risk of the tube being dislodged while it is unsecured.

The NDIS funds tracheostomy support as High Intensity Daily Personal Activities, within the Core Supports budget. Funding follows assessed need, so evidence from the treating specialist team about the level and frequency of support required should be provided at planning or plan review.

Yes, where it is assessed as needed. Overnight support is funded either as active support, where a worker stays awake and attends through the night, or as a sleepover. The evidence needs to reflect how often the person actually requires attention after hours

Specialist reports rather than general letters. Ask the respiratory physician, ENT specialist, treating nurse or GP to describe the tracheostomy, the suctioning frequency, the risks and the level of trained supervision required, with frequency stated in numbers.

Most tracheostomy support is delivered by trained support workers with nurse oversight behind them. Full nursing shifts are used where a ventilator is involved, where the tracheostomy is new or unstable, or where the treating team assesses the risk as high.