What NDIS nursing covers
Since 2019 NDIS plans can include disability related health supports: health care you need as a direct result of your disability and as part of your daily life. Nursing is one of the main ways those supports are delivered, often in your home.
The NDIA describes high intensity supports that often involve nursing, including:
- Complex bowel care
- Enteral feeding and management
- Severe dysphagia management
- Tracheostomy care and ventilator management
- Urinary catheter management
- Subcutaneous injections
- Complex wound management
What the health system covers instead
The NDIS does not replace the health system. Health services remain responsible for:
- Diagnosis, early intervention and clinical treatment of health conditions
- Acute and post acute care, including hospital and Hospital in the Home
- Health conditions that are not related to your disability
- Time limited conditions, rehabilitation and convalescent care
- Palliative care
Nurses, delegation and support workers
You do not always need a nurse at every visit. For many disability related health supports, a registered nurse can assess your needs, write a care plan, then train and delegate tasks to a support worker or enrolled nurse if family or carers cannot do them. The trained worker then delivers the support once they are competent, with the nurse checking in.
The provider is responsible for making sure workers have current skills for your needs, and training should be documented and reviewed regularly. Delegation can make support more consistent and stretch your funding further, because support worker hours cost less than nursing hours.
Price limits for 2026/27
Nursing is priced by the nurse's qualification and the time of day. Weekday daytime price limits in most of Australia for 2026/27 are:
- Enrolled nurse: $103.44 an hour
- Registered nurse: $141.27 an hour
- Clinical nurse: $148.13 an hour
- Nurse practitioner: $183.15 an hour
Nursing and the 2026 funding reset
Higher price limits apply in the evening, overnight, on weekends and public holidays, and in remote areas. Plan managed and agency managed participants cannot be charged above the price limits, so check the NDIS Pricing Schedule for the exact item.
Nursing care at home is protected from the 2026 funding reset. The support determinations that reduce community participation and daily living skills budgets do not touch supports in your home such as community nursing care, and disability related health supports are protected even where they sit inside an affected category.
Getting nursing into your plan
Ask your treating doctor, specialist or a nurse to describe the health support you need, how often, who can safely do it, and why it relates to your disability. Bring that evidence to your planning meeting or reassessment. If your health needs have changed in a significant and ongoing way, you can ask for a variation or unscheduled reassessment rather than waiting.
Nurses must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra). If your plan is agency managed you also need an NDIS registered provider.