Participant support plans and AI confidentiality: what an NDIS support plan gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

The participant support plan tells a new worker who the participant is, how to support him and what to do when something goes wrong. It is also the document a team leader pastes into ChatGPT or Claude to shorten for a casual worker, turn into Easy Read for the participant, or tidy before a plan review. It holds a diagnosis, medication, triggers, the way into the house, family arrangements and things the participant has asked to keep private. This page marks every item in a routine NDIS support plan that the Practice Standards, the Code of Conduct and the Privacy Act bear on, and shows how the same plan is summarised on Ermos inside the service.

The participant support plan

Written by the team leader with the participant and his nominee when supports start, and reviewed at each plan review or after a change. The Support Planning standard expects the participant to be involved and the plan to be understandable and accessible to him and to workers.

An invented support plan. The NDIS number and phone number are placeholders. Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the service

1. 1
   The participant, address and NDIS number

   A named man, where he lives alone and the number the NDIA uses to match payments to him. Personal information, and the material that doorstep scams and claims fraud are built from. The Information Management standard expects each participant’s information to be identifiable, accurately recorded, current and confidential. Privacy Act guide.

2. 2
   Diagnoses and medication

   Autism, an intellectual disability, an anxiety diagnosis and the dose of his medication. Health information, which is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. The OAIC lists disability service providers that handle health information among the organisations the Act covers, whatever their size. Patient data guide.

3. 3
   Plan dates and goals

   The period of his NDIS plan and what he wants for his life. Personal, and the Privacy and Dignity standard expects the participant to understand and agree to what personal information is collected and why. Privacy Act guide.

4. 4
   Triggers and what settles him

   How he reacts to crowds and touch, that he hits his own temple when overwhelmed, and what helps. Written so any worker can support him safely, and the most intimate paragraph in the plan. Health information, and the kind of detail that could be used to characterise him unfairly. Patient data guide.

5. 5
   Entry arrangements

   That he lives alone, where the spare key is kept and who holds the code. Bears on his physical safety as much as his privacy, and on the Code of Conduct duty to provide supports in a safe and competent manner.

6. 6
   The nominee and a request about his father

   His mother’s name and number, and an instruction that his father receive no information. Two other people’s personal information and a rule about who may be told what. Privacy Act guide.

7. 7
   A relationship he asked to keep private

   That he has a girlfriend and has asked that his mother not be told. A confidence given for one purpose. The Code of Conduct requires respect for the privacy of people with disability and for their right to self-determination and decision-making. Privacy Act guide.

8. 8
   Who supports him, and when

   Worker names and the days and hours he has support. A map of when a man who lives alone is, and is not, with a worker, and personal information about the workers. Privacy Act guide.

9. 9
   The record of who the plan may be shared with

   The Support Planning standard has plans shared, with consent, with the support network, other providers and relevant government agencies. An AI company is not on Daniel’s list, and the Information Management standard expects consent to cover the purpose and when information may be disclosed. Privacy Act guide.

10. 10
    Emergency steps

    Generic wording that appears in every plan the service writes. It names no one.

What happens in Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)

• The whole document is transmitted to the provider’s servers. On personal plans the user cannot choose where it is stored or processed, and for the major providers that has generally meant outside Australia, under that country’s legal process. Some business plans offer storage in Australia, but the provider still receives the content.
• On consumer tiers, prompts can be retained and used to train future models.
• The provider’s staff and systems can reach the content under the provider’s own policies.
• Once sent, the service no longer controls it. Retention and deletion happen on the provider’s terms.

The same document on Ermos

Part of AI data leakage in NDIS services.

Common questions