Welcome to the first LSS newsletter for 2018.
It’s traditional to start each year with some reflection on the past and some thoughts on the future. By March, most of us are already back into our usual routines or adjusting to new ones, but I have been thinking about how things have progressed since the scheme began nearly four years ago.
One of the key things that sets us apart is that we don’t just focus on what we do. We place equal importance on how we do it.
It’s easy to talk about “person-centred” decision-making and “innovative approaches” but the challenge is how to turn words into tangible actions. We try to meet that challenge through genuine efforts to put people first in the planning, thoughts and actions of the Lifetime Support Authority (LSA).
There’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ thinking – Service Planners work with each participant and their families and supporters to develop a specific and individual plan.
We don’t just make use of innovations in assistive technology; we fund research that could lead to developing new equipment.
We’re collaborating with service providers in ways that makes the most of their experience in delivering great outcomes in the disability sector and supporting their capacity building to give participants more choice and independence. You can read about our new three-year agreement with some of our closest partner organisations in this edition.
The new service provider panel has been appointed and all previous providers have been re-appointed. They went through a robust and competitive tender process to show how they meet the requirements for our service delivery model.
The Lifetime Support Scheme (LSS) 2017 Participant Survey has had an amazing response from participants – thanks to everyone who was able to do the survey, including some in-depth conversations with the researchers reform UniSA who ran the survey on our behalf. You can read the details in this edition, including some of the enhancements and changes that form our response to the feedback you provided.
The way we collaborate with participants, families and our service provider partners is continuously evolving and there are a couple of other things underway this year that will add to the feedback we receive through the survey.
We work closely with the Participant Reference Group (PRG) to receive experiences and input about how to improve service delivery. They are currently looking at how to share information and make use of social media as part of that evolution and will give us an update as the year progresses. They will also assist the LSA develop the My LSA app, please let us know if you are interested in assisting us in developing or testing the app.
And the LSS Rules are undergoing the annual review and our focus is to incorporate Scheme experience. By mid-year, we hope to have a revised process for MyPlan that is easier to use and more effectively meets participants needs, which we can share in our June edition.
Until then,
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This article was featured in the March 2018 Edition of LSS News. The LSS Update is a quarterly enewsletter from Tamara and the LSA team.