Dietitians Australia has warned that repeated NDIS refusals of dietetic services and feeding products are creating an avoidable public health risk and could drive up hospital admissions.
The peak body says accredited practising dietitians are seeing a surge in clients whose requests for personalised nutrition therapy, texture-modified foods and home enteral-nutrition (HEN) supplies have been turned down. “We are deeply concerned by a growing number of reports from dietitians working within the disability sector, of participants being repeatedly rejected when requesting critical nutrition care to manage their disability,” Dietitians Australia President Dr Fiona Willer said.
Those knockbacks are occurring even when clinical documentation meets the scheme’s own eligibility tests, she added. “This is despite clinical reports being provided, highlighting justification in line with the legislative criteria and clear evidence-based need for a participant’s disability and functional capacity.”
Dietitians argue that the decisions put participants at risk of malnutrition, aspiration pneumonia and severe choking. “We cannot risk preventable choking deaths,” Dr Willer said. “There are cases where food and fluid are quite literally a lifeline.”
The organisation also reports first-time denials of HEN products—formula and equipment that enable tube feeding at home. “Some of these critical and life-sustaining dietetic nutrition support products and HEN products are being denied within the scheme for the first time,” Dr Willer noted.
Beyond acute dangers, the sector points to longer-term system costs. Malnourished participants are more likely to require hospital care or emergency intervention—expenses the scheme was designed to avert. “Nutrition care designed by a dietitian saves lives,” Dr Willer said.
Dietitians Australia has asked the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to spell out that both dietetic services and specialised food products belong on the supports list. “We have made numerous attempts to offer our assistance to both the Government and the NDIA to improve the gaps in the system, and to ensure NDIS participants are being empowered to access the nutrition and dietetic supports they need,” Dr Willer said. “Dietitians will not stay silent on this issue, Australians with disability deserve to be safe and well nourished.”
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Ritchelle is a Content Producer for Healthcare Channel, Australia’s premier resource of information for healthcare.
