Productivity Commission
Disability Care & Support Enquiry
Submission

Chatswood Supported Living (CSL) provides accommodation and support services to adults with mild to moderate Intellectual Disability. The administration office for CSL is located in Chatswood, Sydney.
The service operates 2 group homes as well as providing drop in support to Independent clients in the community.
CSL is fully supportive of the drive in the sector to implement the National Disability Insurance Scheme as well as a move towards an individual funding model.
Re: Chapter 8
Productivity Commission Information Requests
The Commission seeks further feedback on the effectiveness of monitoring instruments and any others that could potentially be used to assist oversight of the disability sector.
Past experience with many families of our client group have indicated a level of disconnect with information sharing. There is a strong need to have a more inclusive approach where services work with all stakeholders to achieve an enhanced level of support, accountability and communication.
With the proposed changes to disability funding models and systems of service support, all concerned need to have an awareness of the support provided as well as a real and effective knowledge of service provision.
To this end, Chatswood Supported Living has developed an in house Intranet system which captures all reporting.
This instrument monitors all progress which is able to be charted on an individual basis. Additionally it has the functionality of tracking staff interaction and support to enable the service to identify any areas of progress or concern.
A new enhancement of this system is being put into production which will enable families and significant others to have a log on facility, using their own usernames and passwords to view the progress of their individual family member. It is felt that this feature will engender an environment of collaboration and create a greater level of transparency. CSL believes this added feature will be vital when families are purchasing services from an organisation as it will enable a view of the provision of that particular service.
Additionally, all data is able to be graphed to be presented along with other information for monthly paper reports to be generated. This will be particularly useful where a family member does not have access to the internet or has a preference for a written report. 
Chatswood Supported Living has been developing this system adding many enhancements to the functionality of the measuring tool since 2007. We do not believe we have created a perfect model, hence the constant upgrading, however we strongly believe we have a model which can provide a high degree of accountability for the organisation, staff, clients and families.

Carol Smail
CEO
Chatswood Supported Living
April 6th 2011