Page 802 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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service (level two service). An additional 12 hours of service (level three service) is provided to victims of violent crime on a discretionary basis. A further limited number of hours may be provided under exceptional circumstances.
The provision of contact hours is a clinical decision made by the client care coordinator and based on the goals identified in a client’s care plan, progress reports and recommendations supplied by the approved provider. Contact hours are extended to an eligible victim in a way that, as far as possible, gives the victim a choice of provider.
If the client care coordinator and approved provider do not agree about the content of a care plan, the need for additional contact hours or both, the client care coordinator must refer the issue in writing to an independent arbitrator nominated by the service manager of Victim Support ACT.
If a victim is found not eligible for the Victims Services Scheme, they may ask for an internal review of that decision. In these circumstances, Victim Support ACT must arrange for a person (the internal reviewer) who did not make the initial decision, to review the decision.
In addition to the hours of service provided to clients under the Victims Services Scheme, Victim Support ACT provides on-going support in the form of justice advocacy for clients who have on-going involvement in the legal system. The primary focus of justice advocacy is to assist clients to access their rights and entitlements in law. Justice advocacy is not prescribed by levels of service under the Regulation.
Client care coordinators hold qualifications in counselling, social work or psychology. They are employed to make clinical decisions within a case management framework. Clinical supervision and group supervision is provided to support them in this role. Their work is supervised by senior practitioners.
b) The client care coordinator discusses referral options to other appropriate services with the client throughout their involvement with Victims Support ACT and prior to the exhaustion of their allocated hours. Referral decisions are based on an assessment of client needs and their own priorities for recovery. A wide range of community agencies are considered as appropriate points of referral. Clients are also able to access hours of service with a health care professional on a mental health plan through the Medicare Benefits Scheme.
(5) There is no independent review of the process for extending hours to clients. It would be impractical and inefficient to construct an independent process for core business activities of service delivery agencies, particularly in relation to offering a service to a client.
(6) There is no provision in the Victims of Crime Act 1994 that prevents the government service provider from extending hours of service to a client where there is another service provider available.
There is an internal policy document on how to refer a client from Victim Support ACT to other service providers. On this occasion I am happy to provide a copy of the document to the secretariat (Attachment A). A checklist contained in the document assists client care coordinators to refer clients to interstate services or other agencies if the caller is ineligible for services under the Victims Services Scheme.
(A copy of the attachment is available at the Chamber Support Office)
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