10.8.1 Basis for providing services and support for service members

If Defence is unable to provide specific services to a serving member, then Schedule 16 of the Memorandum of Understanding between Defence and DVA provides the agreed framework for DVA to provide specific supports and services, based on evidence from the ADFRP rehabilitation assessment. This applies even though Defence is the serving member’s rehabilitation authority. Essentially because Defence has requested that a specific service can be provided to a serving member, it is giving DVA the authority, by proxy, to open a rehabilitation program to deliver these specific services.

It is also important to note that household services, attendant care services and assistance under the Motor Vehicle Compensation Scheme are contained in the compensation provisions in chapter 4 of the MRCA. This provides the legislative basis for these services to be provided to serving members while Defence remains the rehabilitation authority.

Schedule 16 of the MOU between Defence and DVA states that DVA can provide aids and appliances to serving members where the person’s Rehabilitation Authority has been transferred from Defence to DVA. However, there is some flexibility in the legislation which allows aids and appliances to be provided to serving members through section 58(2) of the MRCA because the delegate considers that doing so would be likely to increase the length of time that the client would serve in the ADF. For example, if an OT recommends that a specific mattress to meet the clinical needs of a serving member on CFTS, then this may be considered as an aid to improve their ability to continue their role in the ADF. The processes described in section 10.1 of this chapter should be used when considering provision of aids and appliances for serving members.