A Nurse Who Comes to You, Not the Other Way Around
Wound care, catheter care, medication and health monitoring at home, for health needs that come with a disability. We support participants across Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane and Bayside.
Clinical care at home, from someone who knows your history.
What is NDIS community nursing, and who is it for?
Community nursing is clinical care delivered at home by a registered or enrolled nurse, for health needs that come directly from a person’s disability.
How it works
It usually starts with a nursing assessment: a nurse visits, looks at the health need, the home and the risks, and writes a care plan. After that, visits happen at agreed times, and the plan is reviewed as things change. Most visits are during business hours, though some situations call for other arrangements.
Nurses and support workers
A nurse does the things that need nursing judgement: assessment, care planning, and the tasks that cannot safely be handed over. Some clinical tasks can be delegated to a trained support worker, but only the nurse decides which ones.
How this is different from our other supports
High Intensity Support covers the eight complex daily activities, and trained support workers can deliver those where the plan and preparation allow it. Assistance with Daily Life is personal care and daily routines, not clinical care. If you are not sure which fits, call us and we will help you work it out.
What NDIS community nursing can include at home
What a nurse does depends on the health need and what is in the care plan, so this is the usual range rather than a fixed list. If you cannot see your situation here, call us and tell us what is happening.
Nursing assessment and care plan
A nurse visits, looks at the health need in context, and writes the care plan that everyone else works from.
Wound care and skin integrity
Dressings, monitoring how a wound is healing, and picking it up early when it is not going the right way.
Continence and catheter care
Managing catheters and continence needs, checking for problems, and keeping the routine safe and dignified.
Medication management
Setting up, reviewing and administering medication in the situations that need a nurse rather than a prompt.
Health checks and monitoring
Observations, vital signs and tracking a long term condition, so changes get noticed before they escalate.
Training and overseeing workers
Preparing support workers for one person's specific needs, checking competency, and staying involved after.
Fewer trips to hospital
Problems that get spotted early tend to stay small. That is most of what community nursing is for.
A health condition managed at home
Care that fits around your life, rather than a life arranged around appointments.
Support workers who know what to watch
When a nurse has trained the team around you, the day to day care tends to be safer.
Family not doing clinical tasks
Partners and parents often end up doing things nobody trained them for. This can take that back.
One version of the story
With consent, a nurse can talk to your GP, specialists and support team, so nothing gets lost between them.
What this support can help you work towards
Your goals set the direction, and the care plan is built around them. With nursing the aim is usually stability: a health need managed steadily at home, with fewer surprises and less time in hospital.
How to get started
Most people call unsure whether they need a nurse at all. That is the normal starting point, not a problem. You do not need the funding sorted or the right words for it.
Get in touch
Call or send an enquiry. Tell us what is happening health wise, the suburb, and whether there is a care plan or GP report already.
Talk it through
We will ask what the health need is, what is already in place and who else is involved. This is also where we say plainly whether a nurse is what you need.
Assess and begin
If it is a fit, a nurse completes an assessment and writes the care plan. Visits start from there and the plan gets reviewed as the health need changes. Nothing is locked in.
Where this sits in an NDIS plan
Community nursing usually comes from the Core supports part of a plan, under assistance with daily life. The thing people get wrong is assuming the NDIS covers health care generally. It does not. It funds nursing that relates to your disability, and anything that belongs to the ordinary health system stays there. That is the most common reason a nursing request gets knocked back. Getting it into a plan usually needs a GP or specialist report plus a nursing assessment. Every plan is different, so nothing here is a promise about your funding. Your support coordinator or plan manager can confirm what yours allows, or call us on 1300 544 958.
Other supports that might suit
Nursing rarely runs on its own. These are the supports people most often have alongside it, and the one it gets confused with.
High Intensity Support
The eight complex daily activities, like bowel care, enteral feeding and tracheostomy support, delivered by workers prepared for one person.
Assistance with Daily Life
Help with showering, dressing, meals and daily routines at home, where the support is personal care rather than clinical care.
Supported Independent Living
Support with daily life where someone needs help around the home on an ongoing basis, planned as a living arrangement rather than set visits.
NDIS community nursing at home across Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane and Bayside
Hope & Integrity is based in Logan and our team works across the region. With nursing, continuity is not just nice to have. The nurse who saw a wound last week is the one who notices it has changed, and that only works when they are nearby.
Areas we support:
Start with a simple conversation
Tell us what is happening with the health need, who is involved and which suburb. We will talk it through, explain what an assessment involves and be straight about availability. And if a nurse is not what you need, we will say that too, and point you to what would suit.
Supporting participants across Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane and Bayside · Open Mon to Fri, 9:00am to 5:00pm
Questions about NDIS community nursing at home
The questions participants, families and support coordinators ask us most.
Do I need a nurse, or would a support worker do?
Often a support worker is the right person, and we would rather say so than sell you nursing you do not need. Some clinical tasks can be delegated to a support worker, but only after a nurse has assessed the task, trained that worker for that participant and documented it. Competency is specific to the person being supported, not a general certificate. Other tasks cannot be delegated at all, and the nurse decides which is which. If you are not sure where your situation sits, tell us what is involved and we will work it out with you.
Will the NDIS pay for community nursing?
It can, when the nursing relates to your disability. That is the gate, and it is where most requests fall over. General health care stays with the health system, so a wound unrelated to your disability is a GP matter, not an NDIS one. Community nursing usually sits in the Core supports part of a plan. Getting it approved generally needs a GP or specialist report explaining the disability-related need, plus a nursing assessment. Every plan is different, so nothing here is a promise about your funding. Your support coordinator or plan manager can confirm what yours allows, or call us on 1300 544 958.
Can your nurses do therapy or physio at home?
No. We are not registered for therapeutic supports, so we do not provide occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech therapy or psychology. Our nurses work within nursing scope. Support workers can help someone practise what a therapist has recommended, but that is support work, not therapy. If therapy is what you need, your support coordinator can point you to a provider registered for it.
How often would a nurse actually visit?
It depends entirely on the care plan. Some people need a nurse weekly, some fortnightly, some only when something changes. Wound care might mean several visits a week for a while, then none. The assessment sets the pattern and it gets adjusted as the health need moves. Most visits happen during business hours. After hours nursing is possible in some situations, but it has to be clinically justified and written into the plan.
Can visits fit around work or school?
Usually, within reason. Nursing visits are often tied to a clinical window, so a wound dressing or an injection may need to happen at a particular time rather than whenever suits. Tell us the constraints early and we will tell you plainly what we can work around, and what we cannot.
Still have a question?
Call our local team on 1300 544 958. We will answer it plainly, even if the answer is that we are not the right fit.