Severe Dysphagia Support
PowerCare supports NDIS participants with severe dysphagia (swallowing difficulty), including mealtime assistance against a speech pathologist's mealtime management plan. Delivered by registered nurses, or by support workers with high-intensity training working under registered-nurse supervision.
Yes, we support participants with severe dysphagia
Severe dysphagia — serious difficulty swallowing — is one of the seven high-intensity supports PowerCare is registered and audited to deliver, under NDIS registration group 104 and Practice Standards Module 1.
Mealtimes for someone with severe dysphagia are not catering. They are a clinical risk, every single time, and getting them wrong can kill someone. That is exactly why they need workers who were trained for it, and why so many providers quietly decline.
Who delivers the care
Dysphagia support is delivered either by registered nurses, or by support workers who hold high-intensity training and work under registered-nurse supervision — depending on the participant’s clinical needs and circumstances.
A registered nurse sets the support up, trains the workers against the participant’s own mealtime management plan, and remains responsible for how it is delivered.
What a shift actually looks like
The participant’s speech pathologist writes the mealtime management plan. It says what texture the food must be, what consistency the fluids must be, how the person should be positioned, how fast to go, and what to watch for. Our job is to follow it exactly, every meal, when nobody is watching.
So a shift looks like: food prepared to the specified texture, drinks to the specified consistency, correct positioning, correct pacing, correct supervision — and no shortcuts on the day everyone is tired.
Workers know the signs of aspiration and the participant’s specific choking response plan, and they rehearse it before their first shift. Any change in swallowing — new coughing at meals, wet voice, weight loss, refusing food — is escalated to the supervising nurse and back to the speech pathologist.
How to start
Call us and tell us who wrote the mealtime management plan and when it was last reviewed.
A registered nurse reviews it, and we tell you whether we can deliver it and when. Workers are trained against your specific plan before the first shift. You will get an honest start date on the first call.
Common questions
Do you write the mealtime management plan?
No. The mealtime management plan is written by the participant’s speech pathologist. PowerCare does not provide allied health and does not write these plans — we implement the plan that exists, exactly as written. If a participant does not have a current plan, we will say so, because delivering severe dysphagia support without one is not safe.
What if my family member doesn’t have a current speech pathology plan?
Tell us on the first call. We will be honest about what we can and cannot safely deliver in the meantime, and we will not accept the support and improvise.
Can you do thickened fluids and texture-modified meals?
Yes — prepared to the exact texture and consistency levels the participant’s plan specifies. This is part of the support, not an extra.
Is dysphagia support the same as just helping with meals?
No. Ordinary mealtime assistance is a standard personal care support. Severe dysphagia management is a high-intensity support that only a provider with Practice Standards Module 1 can deliver, because the risk being managed is aspiration and choking.
Which NDIS funding pays for it?
Severe dysphagia management is a high-intensity daily personal activity funded from the Core supports budget (registration group 104).
One team, not a referral chain.
Most participants need more than one of these. Every support below is delivered by the same PowerCare team, under the same registration.
Tell us what's happening.
One call. A real person. An honest answer about whether we can help — including if the answer is no. Registered NDIS provider in Sydney.