Standard vs High Intensity Support.
The label is not about how many hours you get. It is about clinical risk, and who is allowed to manage it.
Quick answer
What is the difference between standard and high intensity NDIS support?
High intensity daily personal activities are NDIS supports carrying clinical risk, such as complex bowel care, enteral feeding, tracheostomy care, catheter care and ventilation. Workers delivering them must meet the NDIS High Intensity Support Skills Descriptors and be supervised by a qualified health practitioner. Standard supports, like personal care, meals and community access, carry no such requirement.
What each one actually means.
Standard support
Everyday assistance with daily living, personal care and community participation.
This covers showering and dressing, meal preparation, household tasks, transport, shopping, social and community access, and building daily living skills. Workers need to be screened, trained by their provider and matched well to the participant, but there is no additional clinical competency framework sitting behind the support. Most NDIS support is standard support, and doing it well is a skill in its own right.
Who it suits
Participants whose support needs are practical and social rather than clinical
High intensity support
Daily personal activities with clinical risk, delivered by workers assessed as competent and supervised by a health practitioner.
The NDIS defines high intensity daily personal activities as a distinct registration group. It covers complex bowel care, enteral or PEG feeding, tracheostomy management, ventilator support, urinary catheter care, subcutaneous injections, severe dysphagia support, complex wound and pressure care, diabetes management requiring insulin, and epilepsy requiring emergency medication. A worker cannot simply be rostered onto these. They must be trained for that participant, assessed against the High Intensity Support Skills Descriptors, and supervised by an appropriately qualified health practitioner, usually a Registered Nurse.
Who it suits
Participants with clinical needs, anyone recently discharged from hospital, and anyone whose support carries a risk of serious harm if done wrong
The difference at a glance.
| Comparison point | Standard support | High intensity support |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical risk | Low | Significant |
| Provider registration group | Assistance with daily life | High intensity daily personal activities |
| Worker screening required | Yes | Yes |
| Participant-specific training required | Good practice | Required |
| Competency assessed against the skills descriptors | No | Yes |
| Health practitioner supervision | Not required | Required |
| Nurse-written care plan | Not required | Expected in practice |
| Examples | Showering, meals, shopping, community access, domestic help | PEG feeding, complex bowel care, tracheostomy, catheter care, ventilation, insulin |
| Usual NDIS budget | Core Supports | Core Supports, at the high intensity price limits |
Which one is right for you.
You are not sure which category your support falls into
Ask your provider which registration group they are claiming under. If the answer is vague, that is itself the answer.
Your support involves a tube, a stoma, a catheter, a trache, injections or seizure medication
It is high intensity. Confirm your provider holds that registration group and that a nurse is behind the roster.
A worker is doing a clinical task for you and you do not know who trained them
Ask. You are entitled to know who assessed their competence and who supervises them clinically.
Your needs have changed since your last plan
Request a nursing assessment. Support that was standard a year ago can quietly become high intensity, and the plan should follow.
Your supports are everyday ones and always have been
Standard support is right, and paying high intensity rates for it would be wrong. Continuity of worker matters far more here than clinical layers.
Commonly misunderstood
“High intensity means more hours of support.”
It means higher clinical risk, not higher volume. A participant can receive two short high intensity visits a week while someone else receives daily standard support. The category describes what is being done and the competence required to do it safely, not how much of it you get.
Common questions.
What counts as high intensity support under the NDIS?
Who is allowed to deliver high intensity support?
Does high intensity support cost more?
Can a regular support worker do my PEG feeding?
How do I get high intensity support included in my plan?
Sources
This page is written from the official sources below. Where the NDIS changes a rule, the source is right and we are out of date, so check it if something matters to a decision you are making.
- NDIS Commission: NDIS Practice Standards, including high intensity
- NDIS Commission: provider registration groups
- NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits
Reviewed by Sam Wagle, Registered Nurse, founder of First Priority Care. General information only, and not a substitute for advice about your own plan.
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