Incident report template for NDIS families

When something goes wrong during a visit, such as a fall, an injury, a medication error or a hard moment, the details fade fast. A short record written the same day helps you, your team, and anyone you need to talk to afterwards, such as a doctor, therapist or provider.

This free template is for your family's own records. Page 1 is the incident record your support worker fills in before they leave. Page 2 is a follow-up page for you, once things have settled, so the whole team learns from what happened.

First: who has to report what

If someone needs urgent medical care, or you suspect a crime, call 000 first.

Registered NDIS providers must report certain serious incidents to the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, such as a death, a serious injury, abuse or neglect, or the unauthorised use of a restrictive practice, usually within 24 hours. If your worker comes through a registered provider, the provider has its own incident process and forms, so tell them too.

Families who self-manage and employ their own workers don't have those same reporting duties, but a clear record still matters. The NDIS Commission says all providers, registered or not, should respond to incidents, and anyone can raise a concern with the Commission about the safety or treatment of a person with disability.

This template isn't an official NDIS form, and it doesn't replace a registered provider's own reporting. It's general information, not legal advice.

What's inside

Page 1: incident record. Filled in by the worker the same day:

• the date, time and place, and the worker's first name
• before: what was happening just before
• what happened: described plainly, what was seen and heard
• after: what the worker did, and how things went
• who was told, and when

Page 2: follow-up. Filled in by the family:

• whether anyone was hurt, and any first aid or medical care
• changes to the care plan or routines
• who else needs to know
• a short checklist: talk with the worker, update the care plan and tell every worker, tell the relevant clinician or behaviour support practitioner, and check a registered provider has reported it if required

How to write a useful incident record

1. Write it the same day, before the worker leaves if possible. Records pieced together later miss the details that matter.
2. Describe, don't judge. "Sat down on the footpath and hit her leg twice" is more useful than "had a tantrum".
3. Include before and after, not just the incident. What came before often explains it, and what came after shows what helped.
4. Note who was told, and when.
5. Follow up. If the care plan needs to change, change it, and make sure every worker sees the new version.

If the person you support has a behaviour support plan, their practitioner may ask for records in a particular format, so check with them.

Keep records together

A stack of incident sheets is hard to look back through when your doctor, therapist or planner asks what's been happening. Our free support worker handover template includes this incident record alongside a one-page sheet for every visit. For what to ask workers to write each time, read our guide to support worker progress notes.

In Maslow, your team records check-ins and notes on their phones after each visit, each one dated and showing who recorded it, so you can look back over months in one place. We digitise care plans and make them easy to share with support workers. Maslow can be funded from your NDIS plan as Low-Cost Assistive Technology (self-managed and plan-managed participants), if it meets a disability-related need in your plan. See how it works for self-managed teams.