About Top End Care
A Top End provider, built by people who got tired of watching supports fall over
Top End Care exists because reliable disability support in the Top End should not depend on luck. We keep the team small, the promises written down, and the people making decisions close enough to answer the phone.
The NDIS gave people choice on paper. Turning that into a support worker who arrives at 7am on a Tuesday, in Humpty Doo, in the wet, is a different problem, and it is a local one.
We work only in the greater Darwin region and the Top End. That is a deliberate limit. It means our coordinators know the roads, the clinics, the waiting lists and the people, and it means a roster problem gets solved by someone who is twenty minutes away rather than three time zones.
It also means we can keep teams small. Most participants work with a core group of two to four workers who learn their routine properly, plus a backup who has already met them. Consistency is not a nice extra in this work. For a lot of people it is the difference between support that helps and support that is another thing to manage.
Where our registration is up to
Our NDIS registration is in progress. We are being straight about that rather than burying it, because it changes who we can work with today. While registration is under way we support self managed and plan managed participants. If your plan is NDIA managed you can only use a registered provider, so we are not an option for you yet, and we will say so on the first call instead of taking a referral we cannot deliver.
Being unregistered does not put a provider outside the rules. These apply to us now:
- The NDIS Code of Conduct, which binds every provider and worker whether or not they are registered
- NDIS Worker Screening Checks, which we require for every support worker by choice
- Our own incident management and reporting procedure
- Our own complaints management and resolution procedure
- Support free of restrictive practices
- Written service agreements priced to the NDIS Pricing Arrangements
You can raise a concern about any NDIS provider, registered or not, with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission on 1800 035 544 at any time, and you never have to come to us first.
What registration will add is an independent audit against the NDIS Practice Standards, and the ability to work with NDIA managed participants. We will update this page the day it comes through.
How we work
Four things we will not trade away
Nothing about you without you
You are in the room for every decision about your support. Plans are written with you, not presented to you, and we use the words you use rather than sector jargon.
Dignity is not a bonus feature
Privacy during personal care, knocking before entering, asking before helping. The small things are the job, and we train for them specifically.
Culturally safe by design
Darwin is one of the most culturally diverse places in the country. We ask how you want to be supported, we listen, and we match workers accordingly wherever we can.
Say it in writing
Rates, rosters, notes and review dates all go in writing in plain language. If we have committed to something, you should be able to point at it.
Our commitments
The promises, in writing
These are in every service agreement we sign. If we break one, tell us, and we will fix it or tell you honestly why we cannot.
You meet your workers before they start
No stranger turns up at your door unannounced. We introduce the team, and if the match is wrong we change it without making it awkward.
We turn up, and we tell you if we cannot
Shifts are confirmed in advance. If something changes we call you before the shift, not after it. Reliability is the whole job.
Every worker is screened and trained
We require NDIS Worker Screening, Working with Children clearance where relevant, first aid, manual handling and NDIS Code of Conduct training before a first shift. The Code of Conduct binds every NDIS provider, registered or not.
Culturally safe support in the Top End
We support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants, and people from the many communities that make up Darwin, in the way each person asks to be supported.
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Acknowledgement of Country
Top End Care acknowledges the Larrakia people as the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land and waters on which we live and work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and we extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the Top End and the Northern Territory.
Let us work out what good support looks like for you
One conversation, no obligation, and a straight answer about whether we are the right fit. If we are not, we will tell you who might be.