Disability Sector Podcasts by National Disability Services (NDS)

Interaction is taking a cautious, people-first approach to AI adoption, focusing on practical use cases that save time, strengthen governance, and improve advocacy outcomes rather than replacing human judgement. Starting with tools they already had access to, AI is being used across quality, planning, and leadership decision-making.
In this episode, we spoke to Brett Thompson, CEO of Interaction, to learn more.

In this podcast NDS is joined by Sharon Paley, Founder of the Australian Centre for Restraint Reduction and Elimination to share some key information and tips with Disability Service Providers for Continuous Improvement. 
 This podcast shares: 
The aims and benefits of continuous improvement 
How to engage staff in continuous improvement 
Embedding a continuous improvement approach 
Resource list NDS Resources:   
Risk, Incidents and Complaints Management Resources (nds.org.au) full library includes related resources for policy development, training resources for teams, resources in community languages and short films. 
NDS Quality and Safeguards Sector Readiness Project - Continuous Improvement Tools 
Leading to Address Occupational Violence - Just Culture (nds.org.au) is a recorded presentation for Board and Senior Leaders. Just Culture promotes: Speaking Up, Listening, Acting and Completing Feedback Loops. 
NDS Quality Portal offers a free trial of the Portal. One of the many resources includes creating quality improvement plans from outstanding tasks to achieve compliance. 
This podcast is part of the NDS Risk, Incidents and Complaints Management Project funded by the Australian Government. 

In this podcast NDS is joined by Kristie Walker, Director of On Track Investigations to share some key information and tips with Disability Service Providers for Planning Investigations in Disability Services.
Investigations play a key role in providing safer and better-quality services by helping providers learn from mistakes and prevent future incidents. The process can also help with rebuilding trust and relationships when something has gone wrong.  
 This podcast shares:
An overview of the 5 stages for Investigations
A deep-dive on planning an investigation
What an investigation plan should include
How to identify and avoid challenges and barriers in the planning stage
Working with unique challenges for small and medium providers
Resource listNDS – Risk Incident and Complaints Resources:  
NDS RICM Resource Library: Investigations includes:
Policy and Procedure Checklists
Investigations Guide
Communcation Plan
Action Plan Template and more
Risk, Incidents and Complaints Management Resources (nds.org.au) full library includes related resources for policy development, training resources for teams, resources in community languages and short films.
NDIS Commission Resources:
The NDIS Commission Incident management (for all providers) includes an investigations section in the principles of good incident management and resolution.
The NDIS Commission Practice Review Guidance Materials include a resources that can assist in investigations into systemic issues that may have led to an adverse outcome.
This podcast is part of the NDS Risk, Incidents and Complaints Management Project funded by the Australian Government.

In this podcast NDS is joined by Dr Hayley Croft – University of Newcastle (UoN) and Adeline Tan – Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) to share some key information and tips with Disability Support Workers including:
What polypharmacy is and when might workers identify polypharmacy
Complications and challenges that may occur with polypharmacy
Accessing government funded medication reviews including the Home Medicines Review and MedsCheck (Community Pharmacy)
What to expect and how to support a person prepare for a medication review 
Resource listMedication review programs:  
Home Medicines Review - Pharmacy Programs Administrator (ppaonline.com.au) 
MedsCheck and Diabetes Medscheck - Pharmacy Programs Administrator (ppaonline.com.au) 
Resources:  
Talking to my GP and pharmacist about my medicines, Medicines Advice Initiative Australia 2024 
Me and my Medication – easy read, Council of Intellectual Disability 2024 
Polypharmacy Practice Alert (PD and Word doc easy read version), NDIS Commission 2020 
Practice Alert (Video resource) - Polypharmacy (youtube.com), NDIS Commission  2020
NDIS Commission Resources for people with disability: Resources for people with disability 
Services:  
1300 MEDICINE is a free Australian government-funded service staffed by pharmacists. 1300 MEDICINE is available by telephone (1300 633 424) to answer consumer questions about medicines and help consumers report adverse reactions to medicines and vaccines to TGA.  
Health Direct: National Health Services Directory A national directory of health services and the practitioners who provide them General Practice, Pharmacy, Hospital including emergency department 
Health Direct: Online medicines information service| Online medicines information service  
Medicines and disability reports:  
NDS Safety and Quality use of Medication Sector Round Table Report 2024
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA): Medicine safety: disability care report 2021  
NDIS Commission 2019 Report: Scoping review of causes and contributors to deaths of people with disability in Australia 
This podcast is part of the NDS Positive Health Outcomes Project funded by the Australian Government.  

An annual comprehensive health assessment improves the detection of health needs, enables active management of those needs, and significantly reduces health risks and poor health outcomes. So how can you support people living with an intellectual disability access one?
The CHAP tool is free and available to download from the Australia Government Department of Health and Aged Care at: Comprehensive Health Assessment Program (CHAP) – Annual Health Assessment for People with Intellectual Disability.
www.health.gov.au/CHAP-adult (adult CHAP, 18 years +),
www.health.gov.au/CHAP-YP (young person CHAP, 12 – 18 years).
 If you’d like to learn more, check out the following NDS resources:
Maximising use of the CHAP: A guide for the disability sector
Government releases new CHAP for young people
This podcast was produced with the support of the Victorian Department of Health.

Cervical cancer screening participation rates are lower among people with a disability than for the general population. Some women with disabilities may face barriers that make having a Cervical Screening Test harder to do. These barriers may include clinic accessibility, physical limitations, competing health needs, and informed consent.
In this podcast, NDS talks with Judy Slape and Ayesha Ghosh from Cancer Council Victoria to learn more about cervical cancer screening and prevention. We are also joined by Nadia Garcia, Director of Disability Health at Yooralla, who shares her experience supporting people with disability access to cervical cancer screening and prevention and some common misconceptions that may get in the way of providing said support.
If you’d like to learn more about cervical cancer screening and prevention, check out the following resources:
www.hpvvaccine.org.au/disability
People With Disabilities - Cancer Screening Hub (cancervic.org.au)
 This podcast was produced with the support of the Victorian Department of Health.

This podcast explores the array of different roles available within the disability sector as well as common career pathways for workers to pursue.
Get information to assess whether the disability sector would be a good fit for you. Learn more about the skills and qualifications you need to pursue a career in the disability sector. Explore different career pathway opportunities.
In this podcast, Kym Vassiliou shares her own trajectory from working as an Account Manager in the IT sector to becoming a Senior Project and Engagement Officer in the Disability sector. The podcast explores the array of different roles available within the sector, avenues for professional development and progression, as well as common career pathways for entry level support workers to other careers in the disability sector such as support coordination and/or management.Learn more about the skills, qualifications, and personal qualities that would make you an excellent fit for working in disability and kickstart your career today.

In this NDS My COVID-19 Vaccination Journey Podcast, NDS Senior Policy and Projects Officer Tahlia Seedy speaks with Sonia, a person with a disability. Sonia talks about why their CVOD-19 vaccination was, and is, important to them. This is the highlights.

The NDS Entry to Care Roles project has trained and coached long-term unemployed job seekers into entry-to-care roles within the disability sector.
In this podcast Louise Hillman from NDS chats with Rikky Baird, Support Worker Unit Coordinator, from Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities Inc, better known as ADEC.
They discuss how the ethnic diversity of the Entry to Care Roles students helps ADEC to find a match with their multicultural clients needing support workers.
The Workforce Australia Local Jobs program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

The NDS Entry to Care Roles project has trained and coached long-term unemployed job seekers into entry-to-care roles within the disability sector.
In this podcast Louise Hillman from NDS chats with Anthony Walsh, CEO of On-Call Training College about his experiences and what he learnt as a Register Training Provider with the Entry to Care Roles project.
Anthony talks about how On-Call provided training that was flexible and could be adapted to the needs of the cohort. We also hear about the excitement when the trainers see the "Ah-Ha" moments when the students see a future working in disability.
The Workforce Australia Local Jobs program is funded by the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.