Issue 109
16 June 2008
Nominations for the Business Service Excellence Awards close on 20 June 2008. If you know a business service organisation that has made a significant contribution to ensuring people with disability are encouraged to participate to their full potential in employment, tell us about it by nominating them for the Business Services Excellence Awards 2008.
Nomination forms and further information can be found on the FaHCSIA website.
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FOFMS will be unavailable from 7pm Monday 23 June 2008 until 9am Tuesday 1 July 2008 due to end of financial year processing. Payments due between 23 and 30 June will be processed on 23 June 2008 and should reach your nominated bank accounts within three working days.
Please note that no new supported employees may be started on FOFMS, and DMI and Intake Assessments are unable to be completed during the shutdown period. Users are advised to organise their workload around this period to ensure continuity of funding. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and if you have any further questions please contact the Case Based Funding Helpdesk on 1800 034 887.
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A Disability Maintenance Instrument (DMI) Proforma is now located under the literature tab on FOFMS.
The proforma contains the complete list of questions from the 12 domains contained in the DMI assessment, selectable answer drop down fields, and an additional notes section that can be completed by business service staff prior to completing the DMI assessment on FOFMS.
This proforma can assist business service staff with the evidence collation stage of the DMI assessment process for their supported employees; providing a working document that can be updated and reviewed in the 13 weeks preceding the completion of a DMI assessment. It is also hoped that the proforma will provide new support staff entering business services with a valuable training tool.
If you have any further questions regarding the DMI Proforma or DMI Assessments please contact the Case Based Funding helpdesk on 1800 034 887[ top ]
You are now able to enter the weekly wage and hours details of your supported employees in the case record on FOFMS. This information is currently obtained through the Disability Service Census and is provided to FaHCSIA by business services on an annual basis.
This new function will reduce the administrative burden for business services, after the 2008 Disability Program Information Collection, by removing the requirement for business services to provide this information on an annual basis. After entering this information initially, business services will only be required to update these fields when a change in the supported employee’s wages or the standard hours worked occurs. For example, after a new wage assessment is completed or there is an increase or reduction to the supported employee’s weekly hours.
Business services will be required to enter this information before an initial DMI assessment is completed and authorised for cases that are in the employment assistance phase. All existing cases in the maintenance phase will be required to be updated by 30 September 2008.
If you have any further queries regarding the wages and hours function for supported employees please contact the Case Based Funding helpdesk on 1800 034 887 or helpdesk.cbf@fahcsia.gov.au.
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To make sure that we have the most current information, it is critical services update their service and consumer data in FOFMS before 30 June 2008. Data for DPIC will be extracted on that date.
All FaHCSIA funded employment, advocacy, print disability, respite and disability information and captioning services will have to complete a PDF form to give service outlet level information. Supported employment and targeted support services will also be required to complete an assessment for supported employees/consumers that they will be able to access through the cases screen in FOFMS. Service providers can log in to FOFMS to access these forms from 1 July 2008. Completed forms must be submitted by 31 July 2008 at the latest.
The Consumer Form Task Card and the 2008 Data Guide containing detailed instructions and definitions for the 2008 DPIC are available in the FOFMS Literature Portal.
Should you require further information about the DPIC, you can contact the Helpdesk on 1800 550 244 or via email at disability.census@fahcsia.gov.au.
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Established in 1889, the Holy Cross Laundry, a Ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, is the oldest commercial laundry in Australia. Holy Cross Laundry currently process 110,000 kilograms of laundry per week providing high quality health care linen to a number of the major private hospitals in the Brisbane and surrounding areas. It also provides employment and support for disadvantaged members of the community.
The laundry employs over 200 people, including people with and without disability, in two shifts operating seven days. For example, in the production area on a week day morning, approximately half of the employees have an intellectual disability, while the remaining half are mainstream employees.
The laundry employs people with disability as a Business Service Provider, and also through the Disability Employment Network (DEN). The Business Service employees make a significant contribution to the business, not only from an operational view point but their presence also positively influences the attitude of other staff.
Holy Cross Laundry is providing linen in a highly competitive laundry market with the majority of business being in the health care market segment. The nature of this business focus means that with every hour of every day comes a deadline. If the linen is not provided on time, in the quantity and quality required, this could severely disrupt the health care services provided to the Brisbane community. The linen provided to the hospitals and the trolleys in which it is delivered are all owned by Holy Cross Laundry.
Holy Cross Laundry also has a focus on environmental impacts. The Systems and Energy Coordinator has reduced water consumption by 40,000 mega litres per year and energy consumption by more than ten per cent.
With the aging population and increased demand for surgical intervention, the product demand for quality health care linen is also increasing, bringing with it an exciting yet challenging future.
For more information about Holy Cross Laundry please call (07) 3857 3155.
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Email disAbility e-news if you'd like more information on a particular issue or program in disAbility e-news or to let us know what you think of the newsletter.
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Your contributions to disAbility e-news are welcome. Do you want to let others know about your successes? Or how you engage with local businesses to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities? Email your story idea to disAbility e-news.
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