The family of a person with disability who lives in supported independent living (SIL) had a long-running dispute with the participant’s provider which they had been unable to resolve. The person’s family made a complaint to us about concerns that supports were not being provided to the participant in a safe and respectful manner.

We worked with the family, advocates, and the provider to reach an agreement that addressed the family’s concerns about the quality of supports being provided to the person. We identified that the major contributing factor to the dispute was the provider’s poor communication with the family about the day to day life of the participant. This was identified as a systemic issue affecting other people with disability supported by the provider, who we found were not receiving regular communication from the provider.

We supported the provider to change their communication practices. As a result, the provider made systemic improvements to the way it communicated with family and carers, receiving positive feedback from those stakeholders in return.