What you need to know

• The NDS has released a report that describes the challenges faced by the Victorian disability sector during the pandemic.
• It reviews the NDS’s Safer and Stronger project, funded by the Victorian Government, which supported the sector through two challenging years.
• The report also reflects on the legacy of the project, which includes increased collaboration among service providers, the development of online networks, and the delivery of resources, such as infection control training.

NDS has released the Safer and Stronger Reflections Report, capturing the legacy of achievements of the two-year project funded by the Victorian Government to support the disability sector through the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Safer and Stronger Project worked with providers on key priority areas:  

• Business continuity  
• Infection prevention and control  
• Mental health and wellbeing  
• Workforce shortages. 

For two years, the project provided practical information, guidance, support and active intervention to Victorian providers, enabling them to respond to COVID-19 and emerge stronger. 

The report acknowledges the impact on the sector and the strain on services to meet the many challenges of the pandemic. 

But it also describes lasting positives. The project led to increased collaboration among providers, an engagement infrastructure with multiple online provider networks, practical resources, and increased knowledge and expertise.   

The report shows the broad engagement of the disability sector with the Safer and Stronger Project: 

• 28,000 video views and podcast listens 
• 6400 NDS COVID-19 Toolkit hits 
• 200 online webinar and network meetings 
• 15,400 people attending online meetings 
• 107,200 COVID-19 News Updates views. 

NDS produced many timely, critical and practical resources specifically for the disability sector, with 4,000 people visiting the Victorian COVID-19 Hub on the NDS website, an average of seven people per day over the project’s two years. Those resources and their links are listed in the Safer and Stronger Reflections Report. 

A key resource developed during the project was an online infection prevention and control training course designed in collaboration with disability sector workers and Health Education Collaborative. Originally intended for COVID-19, the ‘Maintaining safe and effective infection control in disability settings’ course has been updated to for other infection risks and recently released for the sector.   

Article sourced from National Disability Services