High intensity supports under the NDIS, explained
High intensity supports are daily personal activities that carry a higher clinical risk, such as complex bowel care, enteral feeding, tracheostomy care, ventilator support, urinary catheter care, subcutaneous injections, complex wound care and severe dysphagia management. Under the NDIS, workers who deliver them must meet the NDIS Commission's high intensity support skills descriptors and providers must be registered for that support type.
NDIS Practice Standards, supplementary module: high intensity daily personal activities
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, High intensity support skills descriptors
National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018
NDIS Pricing Schedule 2026-27 (formerly NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits)
What makes a support high intensity
The NDIS Practice Standards include a supplementary module called high intensity daily personal activities. It covers supports where a mistake could cause serious harm and where a nurse or doctor is not usually present. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission publishes a skills descriptor for each type. The current set covers complex bowel care, enteral feeding and management, severe dysphagia management, tracheostomy management, urinary catheter management, ventilator management, subcutaneous injections and complex wound management, with an additional descriptor on epilepsy and seizure support. The descriptors describe what a competent worker who is not a health practitioner needs to know and be able to do.
Who the rules apply to
Registered providers who deliver these supports are registered under registration group 0104, high intensity daily personal activities, and are audited against the module as part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Provider Registration and Practice Standards) Rules 2018. The provider must be able to show that each worker has the skills and knowledge in the relevant descriptor, that training was delivered by an appropriately qualified health practitioner or someone who meets the descriptor, and that the worker's competence is kept current. Unregistered providers and sole traders still owe the participant safe and competent support under the NDIS Code of Conduct, so the same descriptors are the practical benchmark.
How high intensity supports are priced
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits, which the NDIA renamed the NDIS Pricing Schedule for 2026-27, sets separate hourly price limits for standard and high intensity assistance with daily life. The high intensity rate is higher because of the extra training, supervision and risk involved. A provider can only claim the high intensity item when the participant's plan funds it and the support genuinely falls within one of the descriptor areas. Claiming the higher rate for ordinary personal care is a compliance risk. Since October 2024 the NDIA has also allowed some intensive and complex behaviour supports to be claimed at the high intensity price where the provider holds the right registration.
What workers and providers should do
Before a worker delivers a high intensity support for the first time, check that a health practitioner has assessed the participant, that a current support plan or protocol is in place, and that the worker's training and competency sign off matches the specific descriptor. Keep records of training dates and who delivered it. Review competence at least yearly or when the participant's needs change. If you are a worker being asked to do a task you have not been trained for, say so and raise it with your supervisor. That is exactly what the NDIS Code of Conduct expects.
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