General information about independent monitoring
Information on this page:
- The benefits of independent monitoring
- Who will be independently monitored
- Included and excluded activity types New January 2009
The benefits of independent monitoring
Independent monitoring will:
- promote a culture of quality and continuous improvement across the Victorian disability services sector
- verify compliance of service provision with the Standards and the Disability Act 2006
- provide Victorians with confidence in the quality of disability services
- involve people with a disability in the review of disability services
- reinforce quality from an outcomes for people perspective
- acknowledge the role of all people involved in providing quality supports to people with a disability
- safeguard the rights of people with a disability
- inform good practice and highlight innovation
- provide disability service providers and the department with an enhanced evidence-base for planning and decision-making
- bring quality management in the Victorian disability services sector in line with other similar sectors.
As service reorientation through individualised approaches grows, certification may also provide information for people with a disability in choosing their service provider.
Who will be independently monitored?
Updated January 2009
Independent monitoring will apply to all disability services providers. Disability service providers are:
- people or organisations registered on the Register of Disability Service Providers
- the Secretary of the Department of Human Services (department-managed disability services).
It is expected that the certification process will apply at the organisational level via the designated lead region (the DHS region with which an organisation executes a service agreement). This will be tested as part of the demonstration project.
Independent monitoring applies only to DHS-funded disability services. Therefore if an organisation has service outlets delivering a range of human services, only the service outlets that deliver DHS funded disability services will be considered for the audit sample.
Each funded disability service type (for example, Day Services, Shared Supported Accommodation, Respite, Behaviour Intervention) provided at or from any location is a separate service outlet of the organisation.
A representative sample of service outlets will be included in each audit. The sampling methodology is described within the independent monitoring mechanism (Procedure 34) that has been developed by Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ).
Included and excluded activity types
New January 2009
The following activities currently do not require service providers to be registered and therefore, do not fall within the scope of independent monitoring:
- Aids and Equipment
- Information services
- Building inclusive communities
- Training and development
- Sector development and innovation
The demonstration project and the current review of the Register of Disability Service Providers will further inform which activities will be included or excluded.