Our business streams
The Department has four business streams responsible for managing the services we deliver to clients.
1. Accommodation and Respite - runs the group homes, residential facilities and respite centres that the Department operates.
2. Community Access - is responsible for managing the intake of clients to the services we operate and for programs that help people with disabilities participate more actively in community life. This includes day programs where adults with disabilities learn social, work and independent living skills, early intervention programs for children with disabilities as well as therapy and behaviour intervention programs.
3. Home Care - the Home Care Service of NSW helps older people and people with disabilities to continue to live independently in their own homes by providing domestic support, personal care and respite for carers in their own home. This business stream also operates the Attendant Care Program, which delivers up to 34 hours a week of care to people with disabilities who need high levels of support.
4. Service Development and Planning - manages our relationships and contracts with the more than 900 services providers that we fund to deliver services to clients on our behalf. Service Development and Planning also monitors the quality of the services we fund and deliver directly.
The Department also has an Office for Ageing which is responsible for advising the NSW Government about ageing policy.
Our central office
The Department's central office is located in Sydney. It is responsible for developing statewide policies and programs for the business streams identified above and for providing corporate support for the rest of the organisation.
Our regions
Our services are delivered through our six geographical regions and the Statewide Aboriginal Region. They are responsible for:
- delivering services directly to clients
- referring clients to other community services
- working in partnership with the service providers we fund to deliver services to clients on our behalf
As part of actions to continually refine and improve our operations, the Department consolidated its four metropolitan regions into two in early 2005-06.
Associated organisations
The Department also administers the operating costs of the NSW Disability Council and the NSW Guardianship Tribunal. These bodies are directly responsible to the Minister for Disability Services and are not subject to direction by the Department.
The Disability Council provides advice to the NSW Government on issues affecting people with a disability, their families and carers. The Guardianship Tribunal is a legal entity that protects the interests and welfare of people with disabilities by making decisions on their behalf. The NSW Disability Council and Guardianship Tribunal prepare annual reports independently of the Department.