Updated and Effective from: April 2024

Purpose

• To detail how Lend A Friend Helpers should respond to an incident
• To minimise the effect of incidents and providing safer and better outcomes after incidents

Policy

• Helpers are First-Aid trained and where necessary are to act as first responders in the event of an incident
• Incidents could include, but are not limited to:
  • Member Allergic reaction to allergen
  • Car accident
  • Physical injury caused by accident
  • Mental trauma from an event in the community
  • Self harm by the Member
  • Any incident which involved the Member being Physically, Mentally or Sexually harmed, or at risk of harm (threatened, neglected etc.)
• Some incidents need to be documented in the Incident Report Form
• When deciding on when to report an incident, consult the table below:

• Where incidents are in the “Green”, therefore very negligible severity and not occurring often, an incident report might not be necessary. Examples of these incidents could include:
  • A young and able bodied Member tripping over at the playground, and have only a minor graze, and are not upset by the incident
  • When out with a Member, you witness a car accident, but are not involved in any way with the car accident. Nobody was hurt, and the Member does not seem bothered by witnessing the car accident
• Where the incident was in the middle ground like the “Orange” category, depending on various factors an incident report might need to be conducted, or might not be necessary. Consider the following scenarios:
  • A young and able bodied Member tripping over at the playground, and has a minor cut, which has a little bit of blood. You put a Band-Aid on but the Member is not worried at all and continues to play without an issue. An incident report may not need to be conducted, as the fall was minor, the damage was managed and no follow up would be needed. Their mental state is fine. There is no risk of further issues
  • A young and able bodied Member tripping over at the playground, and has a minor cut, but the Member is very distressed, crying, holding their leg and just wants to go home. You dress their wound and the bleeding stops, but the Member is still distressed. There is likely a minor risk of severe harm, but due to the mental state of the Member, an incident report should be done, and further investigation might be necessary. They might need to see a Doctor, and further steps may be necessary
  • A Member who has never had a seizure, has their first seizure. They are ok after 3 minutes, and seem to be fully functional again, just a bit tired. Given this is unusual for them, an incident report should be conducted, and an ambulance might need to be called to check on them
  • A different Member might have daily seizures, as documented in their Help Plan. Their seizure management plan might mention seizures lasting less than 5 minutes don’t need an ambulance called. If this Member has a 3 minute seizure and are fully functional after the fact, an incident report might not need to be filled out. Instead this can be just documented in the case notes within their Notebook, as this “incident” is inline with their ordinary functioning and disability
• Incidents that fall into a middle ground in the table should be dealt with in accordance to the Helper’s judgement. Take into consideration:
  • The Help Plan of the Member
  • Case notes and history of the Member
  • The Mental state and functioning of the Member
  • The nature of the incident, and how it might be more or less severe for the Member based on their circumstances and condition
• Where an incidents falls into the “Red” category, an Incident report must be completed, and emergency services may be required. Consider these scenarios:
  • Car accidents where the Member is involved in the accident
  • Witnessing a traumatic event
  • Severe injury resulting from a fall, assault, self harm
• Some incidents may need to be reported to the NDIS Commission and the Police, as well as documented in the incident report form.
• Incidents which must be reported to police within 24 hours include:
  • Death of a person with disability
  • Serious injury of a person with disability (Hospitalisation due to violence, assault, serious car accident)
  • Abuse or neglect of a person with disability
  • Unlawful sexual or physical contact/assault of person with disability
  • Sexual misconduct, with or in the presence of a person with disability, including grooming
  • Unauthorised use of restrictive practices (being locked in room, when there is no restrictive practices plan)
• When in doubt about whether an incident report should be made, lean towards making a report
• Helpers are to follow the “5 Step guide to identifying and responding to incidents” below