NDIS Support Worker Handovers: What to Include and How to Keep Everyone on the Same Page

When more than one person supports an NDIS participant, good communication between shifts matters.

A useful support worker handover should give the next authorised person enough relevant information to understand four things:

What happened? What changed? What still needs to happen? What do I need to know next?

Depending on the participant and the support being provided, that can include:

• changes in wellbeing, mood or routine
• relevant health-related observations
• incidents or safety concerns
• activities completed
• participant preferences or instructions
• appointments and schedule changes
• tasks completed and still outstanding
• relevant medication-support information
• anything requiring follow-up

The goal isn't to document every minute of someone's day.

It's to make sure important information follows the participant between the people supporting them.

That can become difficult when information is spread across text messages, phone calls, notebooks, calendars, group chats and individual workers' memories.

What is a support worker handover?

A handover is the transfer of information another person needs to continue supporting a participant.

Sometimes two workers speak directly at a change of shift.

Sometimes the first worker finishes hours before the next worker arrives.

Sometimes a family member coordinates several independent support workers who may rarely meet one another.

In those situations, continuity depends on important information being recorded somewhere the appropriate people can access it.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission's supervision guidance recognises written records and handover notes as ways of making relevant information available to workers. It also emphasises agreeing with participants about what information workers can access or share.

1. Start with a brief overall update

Give the next person the overall picture.

Instead of:

“Good shift. Everything fine.”

try:

“Jordan was settled this afternoon. We completed the planned shopping trip. Jordan reported discomfort in their left foot after walking and chose to rest when we returned home.”

Short, factual and useful.

2. Record meaningful changes

Changes from the participant's normal routine may be more useful than routine details.

For example:

• reduced appetite
• changes in sleep
• lower energy
• different mood or behaviour
• changes in mobility
• equipment problems
• a cancelled activity
• something the participant wants the next worker to know

Try to separate observations from interpretations.

Instead of:

“Chris was acting strange.”

write:

“Chris was quieter than usual and chose not to attend the planned walk. Chris said they were tired.”

The second version records what happened without making an unsupported assumption.

3. Record relevant activities

Depending on the participant, useful information might include:

• community access
• shopping
• appointments
• household activities
• meal preparation
• exercise
• personal routines
• social activities
• participant goals

You generally don't need a minute-by-minute account.

Ask:

Will another person supporting this participant benefit from knowing this?

4. Record relevant health and wellbeing observations carefully

A participant may report pain, tiredness, dizziness or another change relevant to their next support.

Record what was observed or reported rather than diagnosing a condition.

For example:

“Taylor said they felt dizzy after standing and chose to sit down for approximately five minutes.”

is more appropriate than independently concluding:

“Taylor has low blood pressure.”

Health information can be sensitive information and may attract additional privacy protections depending on the circumstances.

5. Include participant preferences

Good handovers shouldn't only document problems.

Small preferences can make the next support significantly better.

For example:

“Mia asked to have breakfast before showering tomorrow.”

or:

“Noah enjoyed listening to music while preparing dinner and asked to do this again next shift.”

The NDIS Code of Conduct includes respecting individual rights, self-determination, decision-making and privacy.

6. Separate completed and outstanding tasks

A simple structure works well:

Completed

• groceries collected
• laundry completed
• appointment attended
• equipment charged

Still to do

• confirm Friday transport
• collect prescription tomorrow
• contact equipment supplier
• follow up changed appointment

This reduces the risk of everybody assuming somebody else is handling something.

7. Make schedule changes obvious

If an appointment changes, the important information shouldn't only exist halfway through a long message.

For example:

Physio moved from 11:30 am to 10:30 am tomorrow.

Ideally, that change should also be reflected in whichever shared calendar the participant's support team relies on.

Otherwise one message can say 10:30 while the calendar says 11:30.

Now the support team has two versions of the truth.

8. Handle incidents appropriately

If an incident occurs, relevant information may need to be communicated to appropriate people for the participant's ongoing safety.

A routine handover, however, is not a replacement for an incident-management process or formal incident record where one is required.

The NDIS Commission says registered providers must have systems for identifying, recording, managing and responding to incidents, and certain incidents must be reported to the Commission.

9. Medication support needs its own appropriate processes

If medication support forms part of a worker's role, information requiring follow-up may sometimes need to be communicated.

But a general handover should not replace required medication administration records, professional instructions or other formal medication-management processes.

Example support worker handover

Overall

Jordan was in a good mood this afternoon and participated in the planned community outing.

Activities

Visited the library and supermarket. Returned home at approximately 3:30 pm.

Wellbeing

Jordan reported discomfort in their left foot after walking and chose to rest when home. Jordan asked that the evening worker be made aware.

Completed

• groceries purchased
• library books returned

Outstanding

• washing is in the dryer
• confirm Friday transport

Schedule

Physio tomorrow at 10:30 am.

For the next support

Please check with Jordan how their foot is feeling before the community activity and follow their usual support arrangements if the discomfort continues.

What shouldn't go into a handover?

Avoid filling handovers with:

• gossip
• disrespectful descriptions
• irrelevant personal information
• unsupported assumptions
• speculation presented as fact
• unnecessary third-party information
• unsupported health diagnoses
• information that isn't appropriate to share

More information isn't automatically better.

The aim is useful continuity of support.

The bigger problem: information scattered everywhere

Writing a good handover is only half the challenge.

Imagine a participant has several independent workers, a family member helping organise support, appointments, recurring shifts, important health information, documents and outstanding tasks.

Now imagine the system connecting everything is:

• SMS
• WhatsApp
• email
• phone calls
• someone's calendar
• a paper notebook
• files stored somewhere else
• and one family member remembering where everything is.

The information might exist.

The problem is that it isn't where the next person expects to find it.

Where Neume fits

Neume is being built around this problem.

Neume is an Australian care-coordination platform designed to give participants, families and authorised support workers a shared place to organise day-to-day care information.

That can include:

• handovers and care updates
• shared schedules
• tasks and follow-ups
• participant preferences
• important health information
• documents
• contacts
• communication
• emergency care information

The aim is not to create more administration.

It's to make important information easier for the right person to find when they need it.

Neume does not replace emergency services, professional health advice, formal medication records, incident-management requirements or other records a worker or provider is required to maintain.

It is designed to make the coordination around care simpler.

Quick handover checklist

Before finishing a support, ask:

• Has anything important changed?
• Is there something the next worker needs to know?
• Did the participant express a new preference?
• Is there relevant wellbeing information?
• Were there safety concerns?
• Are tasks unfinished?
• Have appointments changed?
• Does somebody need to follow something up?
• Is what I've written factual?
• Is it appropriate for the intended people to access?
• Could the next person understand what matters without calling me?

If the last answer is yes, the handover is probably doing its job.