Support coordinators are not an emergency service, but they are often the first call when a participant's situation falls apart. This guide explains what a coordinator can and cannot do in a crisis, how planning reduces the damage, and where specialist coordination fits.
A carer collapses. A participant is evicted. A provider withdraws with a week's notice. Someone ends up in an emergency department with no plan for going home. These are the situations that test support coordination, and they show the difference between a coordinator who has prepared for them and one who has not. Our level 3 specialist support coordination page covers the most intensive response; this article explains the role in a crisis more generally.
A support coordinator can mobilise the supports in the plan quickly: arrange emergency support worker hours, contact providers, organise short-term accommodation where the plan allows it, request an urgent plan variation from the NDIA for funding that does not yet exist, liaise with hospitals, housing services and family, and hold the pieces together while the immediate problem is dealt with. In a genuine crisis the NDIA can act quickly, but only if someone lodges a clear request with evidence, and that is usually the coordinator.
A coordinator is not an emergency service, a crisis mental health team, a police officer or a doctor. If someone is at immediate risk, the call is 000, or the mental health service's acute line. Coordinators also cannot create funding that the plan does not have without the NDIA's agreement, and they cannot make a provider deliver a service it has withdrawn from. Being clear about these limits is part of a good crisis plan, because a participant who believes the coordinator will fix everything at 11pm is worse off than one who knows exactly who to call.
Most of what determines how a crisis goes has been decided beforehand. A written plan that names the likely risks, who does what, which providers have agreed to provide emergency cover, how funding will be accessed and what the participant wants to happen makes the response fast. So does the ordinary work of coordination: keeping providers informed, keeping a current medication list and care plan, keeping family contacts up to date and knowing which hospital, housing service or mental health team is involved. Coordinators who do this work quietly are rarely surprised.
The weeks after a crisis are where supports are rebuilt, and they are often when the plan needs to change. The coordinator reviews what happened, what failed and what the plan needs to prevent a repeat, and uses that to request a variation or to prepare the next review. A crisis is also strong evidence for specialist support coordination if the participant's circumstances have become complex enough to need it.
Repeated crises, multiple systems involved, high risk to the participant or others, and supports that keep collapsing are the markers of a level 3 situation. Specialist coordinators carry smaller caseloads and are expected to spend much of their time on exactly this kind of prevention and response. Our article on when to request specialist support coordination explains how to make the case.
The coordinator can lodge an urgent plan variation request with the NDIA, with evidence, and the NDIA can act quickly in genuine crises. The coordinator cannot approve funding themselves.
Level 2 coordinators generally work business hours; some providers have an after-hours line for emergencies. Specialist coordinators are typically more available. Ask your provider exactly what the arrangement is and write it into your crisis plan.
Likely risks, early warning signs, who to call for what including 000 and the mental health acute line, which providers have agreed to emergency cover, how funding will be accessed, family and clinical contacts, and what you want to happen.
MediHealth Connect provides support coordination across South East Queensland.