Client incidents that occur during service delivery and result in harm to a client are required to be reported by all in-scope services in the client incident management system (CIMS).
The client incident management system (CIMS) focuses on the safety and wellbeing of our clients by outlining the approach and key actions to manage client incidents.
Reporting client incidents through CIMS applied to department funded organisations and National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers from 15 January 2018 and for department staff of selected delivered services from 1 October 2018.
CIMS guides
The Client incident management guide (CIMS) (word) (guide) describes each of the actions and responsibilities of service providers and the department during the management of client incidents. Service providers include department-funded organisations and department-delivered services.
The Client incident management guide - out-of-home care addendum (CIMS) (word) should be read in conjunction with the guide and provides specific guidance for allegations of abuse by carers (home based care - foster care and kinship care, residential care and lead tenant) of children living in out-of-home care (OOHC).
Client incident register
All service providers must own, manage and maintain a client incident register to capture and transmit information. For more information, see Client incident register
The CIMS incident report web form and the CIMS client incident register are two components of the department-built CIMS.
- CIMS incident report webform
- CIMS client incident register for external funded organisations
- CIMS client incident register for internal department delivered services.
Learning and development
A range of training materials have been developed to support users of the CIMS. For more information, see Learning and development.
CIMS video stories
To support the implementation of the CIMS and to assist staff to develop their understanding of the CIMS policy, a series of CIMS video stories have been developed.
In scope services for CIMS
The CIMS applies to the following services, delivered by the department and our funded organisations. For out of scope services, see Appendix C of the Client incident management guide (word).