DIRECTORS David Crawford (Chairman) Paul Hardy-Smith Sally Harrop Sara Jholl Michael Negri Paul Thomson Wendy Waddell David Wansbrough EXECUTIVE TEAM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Gail Foster EXECUTIVE MANAGER CLIENT SERVICES Toni Stewart CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Position Vacant EXECUTIVE MANAGER PEOPLE, CULTURE & SAFETY Jayne Gillespie FOUNDER & PATRON: Emil .A. Negri ABN: 21 004 947 782 PO Box 62, Dromana VIC 3936 Tel: 03 5981 5117 info@focuslife.com.au www.focuslife.com.au
NEWSLETTER ISSUE 46 | MARCH 2019
FROM THE CEO ... Welcome to our first newsletter of 2019; we hope you like the new look and enjoy reading about the things people have been doing. We have redesigned the newsletter along with the new website that will be launched by Easter. The beauty of this new version of the newsletter is that it can be emailed to anyone who would prefer to read it online, so if you are happy to have it delivered to your inbox, please let us know. For anyone who continues to like the printed version it will come to you through the post as it always has. It is now 1-year since we began the transition to the NDIS, however, many focus people are still to transition to the Scheme. We currently have around half of the organisation that has successfully transitioned over. On behalf of the organisation, I have to congratulate all the staff involved in the transition, they have worked incredibly hard to ensure a smooth changeover from State to Commonwealth Funding. There have been some small hiccups along the way but generally the transition for focus has proceeded without too many problems. Well done to everyone involved. focus next major hurdle, is the transition to the Commonwealth Quality and Safeguarding Framework from the state based quality standards. This will begin on the 1st July 2019 and is another huge body of work for everyone in the organisation. The major issue with this is that anyone who doesn’t have an approved NDIS plan by the 1st July, will continue to come under the state based standards until such time as they receive an approved plan. This will mean that we will continue to work under two systems with two different reporting requirements. I, once again ask for your patience while we complete all the requirements to get people into the Scheme. The sooner everyone is under the same system the easier and more cohesive it will be for everyone concerned, then we will have just have one set of rules to abide by, and one lot of reporting. I thankyou for your understanding to date, we had anticipated that the transition would be much faster than it has been. In closing, I take this opportunity to wish all our families and supporters a very Happy Easter, enjoy the short break. Gail Foster | Chief Executive Officer
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