7th May 2018
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New rules
In August 2017 the Victorian Government made some new rules for the Disability Services Commissioner. These rules give us new powers to make it easier for us to help keep you safe. One of the powers is using Authorised Officers.
Authorised Officers
An Authorised Officer is a person from the Disability Services Commissioner. They can go to a disability service to do an inspection when we decide to investigate a service provider. Their job is to help to keep you safe.
When Authorised Officers inspect a disability service there will always be two of them.
Authorised Officers can visit a service at any time of the day or night. People with disabilities are allowed to talk to the Authorised Officers.
If you need police now because someone is hurting or scaring you, call Triple Zero (000)
How we helped Bob with our new powers
This is Bob.
Bob rang us.
Bob told us that his disability service locks him in his bedroom. He also told us that he has to sleep on a mattress on the floor.
We checked some reports that we had about that disability service. We were very concerned about Bob. We decided to investigate the disability service.
We also decided to send two Authorised Officers to the group home where Bob lived. We did this to check if Bob was being supported properly.
When the Authorised Officers visited Bob’s group home, they asked the staff lots of questions.
They took pictures of the lock on Bob’s bedroom door. They also took pictures of the mattress on the floor that Bob had to sleep on.
We showed the disability service the pictures we took. We told them they had to take the lock off Bob’s bedroom door. We told them they had to get Bob a proper bed.
Sometimes we may talk to other organisations who can help us with our investigation
The disability service had to tell us about what they had done to support Bob better. They took the lock off Bob’s door and gave him a proper bed.
What about Bob?
After his service provider did what we told them, Bob felt better about living in his home.
Do you have any concerns about your disability service? You can call and talk to us about it on 1800 677 342 or send us an email complaints@odsc.vic.gov.au
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