Managing waitlists with empathy: a guide for NDIS providers

Waitlists are a reality for many NDIS providers. This guide covers fair intake processes, empathetic communication, and practical systems to manage demand without burning out your team.

If you run an NDIS service in Australia, chances are you have more enquiries coming in than you can immediately fulfil. A waitlist is not a failure - it is a sign of demand. But how you manage that waitlist says a great deal about your organisation's values, and it has real consequences for the people waiting on it.

Done well, waitlist management protects your staff from overwhelm, keeps participants informed and respected, and positions your business to grow sustainably. Done poorly, it erodes trust, invites complaints to the NDIS Commission, and leaves vulnerable people in limbo with no idea where they stand.

This guide is written for NDIS provider operators - registered and unregistered - who want practical, empathy-led systems for managing demand. Whether you run a small sole-trader operation or a mid-sized disability support organisation, the principles here apply.

Why waitlist management matters more than you might think

For a participant or their family, being told "we'll put you on our waitlist" can feel like being handed a number and told to go away. Many families have already spent months navigating the NDIS, writing plans, and finding a provider who looks like a good fit - only to be told there is no availability. The emotional weight of that moment is significant.

From a compliance perspective, the NDIS Commission's Code of Conduct requires that providers treat participants with dignity and respect, and that they act with honesty and transparency. While the Code does not prescribe exactly how you run a waitlist, a system that leaves people uninformed for months, or that applies inconsistent criteria, can attract complaints and scrutiny.

There is also a practical business reason to get this right. Participants who feel respected during a waitlist period are far more likely to accept a place when it becomes available. Those who feel ignored often move on - and they tell others.

Setting up a fair and transparent intake process

Before someone lands on your waitlist, they go through your intake process. This is where the foundations of trust are built or broken.

Define your eligibility criteria clearly

Be explicit about who your service is designed for. This includes the types of supports you deliver, the NDIS funding categories you work with, the geographic areas you cover, and any specialist requirements such as complex behaviour support or specific disability types. Publishing this information on your website and in your provider profile helps participants self-select before they even contact you, which saves everyone time.

If you list your service on a marketplace like OpenWay, your provider profile on OpenWay is a good place to spell out your scope clearly so enquiries are already well-matched before they reach you.

Capture the right information at first contact

When someone enquires, gather enough detail to assess fit without making the process feel like an interrogation. A short intake form or a structured phone conversation works well. Key things to capture include:

The participant's name, location, and NDIS number (optional at this stage, but useful)
The type of support they are looking for
Approximate hours or frequency needed
Any specific requirements such as language preferences, gender preferences for support workers, or complex support needs
Their urgency - is this a planned transition or an immediate crisis?

That last point matters. Not all waitlist positions should be treated identically, and capturing urgency at intake lets you triage fairly.

Be honest about wait times from day one

If your current wait is eight weeks, say eight weeks. If it is six months, say six months. Giving a vague "we'll be in touch when something comes up" is not kind - it is a way of avoiding an uncomfortable conversation at the cost of the participant's ability to make other plans.

Honesty at intake is also good business. A participant who knows they are facing a six-month wait can decide whether to stay on your list or look elsewhere. If they stay, they have made an informed choice, and that makes them a more engaged future client.

Building a waitlist system that your team can actually use

A waitlist scribbled in a notebook or buried in someone's email inbox is a liability. When that staff member goes on leave, the information disappears with them. When a participant calls to check their status, nobody can answer. A proper system does not need to be expensive - it needs to be consistent.

Choose the right tool for your size

For very small providers, a shared spreadsheet with clear columns (date added, participant name, contact details, support type, urgency, last contact date, status) is a reasonable starting point. For larger organisations, a CRM or practice management platform with waitlist functionality is worth the investment.

Whatever tool you use, make sure more than one person has access and knows how to use it. Single points of failure are a risk management issue.

Assign ownership and set review cadences

Decide who is responsible for the waitlist and how often it is reviewed. A weekly or fortnightly review meeting - even a short one - keeps the list accurate and ensures no one has been sitting on it without contact for too long. During each review, ask:

Has anyone's circumstances changed since they joined the list?
Are there any participants who have not been contacted in the past four weeks?
Are there any upcoming vacancies that could be offered to someone on the list?
Are there any participants whose needs now exceed your service capacity?

That last question is important and often avoided. If someone's needs have escalated beyond what you can safely deliver, it is better to acknowledge that early and help them find a more appropriate service than to keep them waiting for a place that will not actually work for them.

Communicating with people on your waitlist

This is where empathy becomes operational. The difference between a waitlist that feels respectful and one that feels dismissive usually comes down to how often and how well you communicate.

Set a contact schedule and stick to it

At minimum, reach out to everyone on your waitlist every four to six weeks. The contact does not need to be long. A brief message or phone call that says "we wanted to let you know you are still on our list, your current position is X, and we expect availability around Y" takes five minutes and makes an enormous difference to a family who is anxious and uncertain.

For participants with complex communication needs, consider how you reach out. Some people prefer phone calls, others prefer email, and some may need Easy Read formats or communication through a support coordinator or family member. Ask at intake which communication method they prefer and record it in your system.

What to say when you have no good news

Sometimes you will need to contact someone to say that your wait time has blown out, or that a vacancy you anticipated has not materialised. These are hard conversations, but they are far better than silence.

A message like this works well: "We wanted to be upfront with you. We had hoped to have availability by [date], but due to [brief, honest reason], that has been delayed. We now expect our next opening around [revised date]. We understand this is frustrating, and we want to make sure you have the information you need to make the best decision for yourself."

Then give them the option to stay on the list or to be removed so they can pursue other options without guilt. That choice, offered genuinely, is a form of respect.

Connecting people to other options while they wait

If your wait is long, consider what else you can offer. This might include:

A referral to another provider you trust who has capacity
Signposting to a support coordinator who can help them find interim supports
Sharing resources or information relevant to their situation
Recommending they browse NDIS providers in their area to explore parallel options while they wait

You are not obligated to do any of these things, but doing them reflects well on your organisation and genuinely helps people who are often in difficult situations.

Handling the hard situations with fairness

When someone's needs change while they wait

A participant who joined your waitlist with moderate support needs may, six months later, have significantly higher or lower needs. Your intake criteria may no longer apply. Handle this with a direct conversation. Acknowledge that their circumstances have changed, explain clearly whether your service is still a good fit, and if it is not, help them understand what type of service would better meet their needs.

Document these conversations. If a complaint is ever made, clear records of what was communicated and when are your best protection.

Managing requests to jump the queue

You will receive calls from family members, support coordinators, or occasionally from participants themselves asking whether there is any way to move up the list. This is understandable - people are often advocating hard for someone they love or someone they support.

Your policy here needs to be clear and applied consistently. Define in writing the criteria under which someone might be prioritised - for example, a participant in crisis, a participant transitioning out of hospital or residential care, or a participant whose current provider has ceased operating. Apply those criteria equally. If you make exceptions based on who asks most persistently or who has the most articulate advocate, you are creating an unfair system that will eventually cause you problems.

Being transparent about your prioritisation criteria, including publishing them on your website or provider profile on OpenWay, also reduces the number of these calls you receive, because people can see upfront how decisions are made.

Reviewing your waitlist practices regularly

Good waitlist management is not a set-and-forget task. Build a quarterly review into your operations calendar. Ask:

Is our average wait time increasing or decreasing?
Are we losing people from the waitlist before they convert? If so, why?
Are our intake criteria still accurate and appropriate?
Have any complaints or near-misses been related to our waitlist process?
Do our staff feel equipped to have difficult conversations with people on the list?

That last point connects to staff wellbeing. Frontline staff who handle enquiries and waitlist communications often absorb a lot of distress from participants and families. Make sure they have supervision, clear scripts for difficult scenarios, and permission to escalate when a situation feels beyond their capacity to manage alone.

Frequently asked

Do NDIS providers have to accept every participant who enquires?

No. Providers are not required to accept every enquiry. You can set eligibility criteria based on your service scope, geographic area, staffing capacity, and the types of supports you are funded and equipped to deliver. What matters is that your criteria are applied consistently and transparently, and that you communicate clearly when you cannot take someone on. Discrimination on the basis of disability, or other protected attributes under Australian law, is not permitted.

Can I charge a fee to join a waitlist?

Generally, charging a fee simply to be placed on a waitlist is not considered appropriate practice under the NDIS framework. If you have questions about what you can and cannot charge, the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits document is the relevant reference, and you may want to seek independent advice specific to your situation.

How do I handle a participant who becomes distressed or aggressive during a waitlist call?

Have a clear protocol in place before it happens. This might include a script for de-escalating, a process for escalating to a senior staff member, and guidance on when to end a call respectfully. Document the interaction. If a participant discloses that they are in crisis or at risk, follow your safeguarding obligations and refer them to appropriate supports such as their support coordinator, a crisis line, or emergency services if necessary.

How OpenWay can help

If you are an NDIS provider looking to attract well-matched enquiries and reduce the volume of unsuitable contacts landing on your waitlist, having a clear, detailed profile is a strong starting point. List your service on OpenWay to reach participants, families and support coordinators who are actively searching for providers in your area and service type.

OpenWay is a free-to-use platform for participants and families. Providers can publish detailed profiles that set out their scope, eligibility criteria, and availability - which means the people who contact you are already a reasonable fit before they pick up the phone.

Browse the OpenWay provider resources to see how the platform works and what a listing includes.

OpenWay is not part of the NDIS, NDIA or NDIS Commission. Final scope, pricing, travel, cancellation rules and non-face-to-face charges must be confirmed in a written service agreement between the participant (or their authorised support person) and the provider.

This article was written by OpenWay editorial with AI assistance. We review for accuracy + tone but the framing rules of the NDIS apply: nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice. Always check the NDIS Commission and your plan for the latest rules.