In this episode we are talking all about the NDIS: The National Disability Insurance Scheme here in Australia. We are talking with Sarah Collison, Occupational Therapist, Director of Verve OT and administrator of The NDIS OT Community of Practice Facebook Group.
We discuss:
- Pros and cons of being a registered NDIS provider (vs not being a registered provider)
- Service Agreement ‘must-haves’
- Assistive Technology (AT) low risk vs high risk, low, mid and high cost AT – what it all means for OTs
- Just because something is low cost, doesn’t mean it’s low risk – and the implications
- The risks of not writing a report or letter to support your AT clinical justification (and when case notes are not enough)
- What to do when equipment prescription is outside your scope of practice
- What to do (and say) when you have been asked to recommend a piece of equipment that you can’t clinically justify
- AT outcome measures
- Why clinical observation is superior to standardised assessments
- What functional capacity assessments (FCA’s) are and when they are required (and when they’re not)
- What to assess in a FCA and what to include in a FCA report
- The standardised assessments the NDIS prefers for FCA’s
- Average time taken to complete a general FCA and report
- Why we need to charge our worth (including report writing, travel and indirect time)
- How to reduce risk of burn out
- Narrowing scope of practice to improve efficiency, productivity and enjoyment
- And SO MUCH MORE!
Sarah is an Occupational Therapist with over 20 years of experience and she’s the Director of Verve OT. Sarah has worked across a broad range of clinical settings including rehabilitation, injury management, health, medico-legal and disability. She is a passionate supporter of the NDIS and provides supervision and training to other OT’s in all things NDIS. She has a special interest in complex home modifications and can often be found trampling around building sites all over Sydney. Sarah is a member of the OTA NDIS taskforce and administrator of the NDIS OT Community of Practice.
To learn more about Sarah, the NDIS related courses and join the Facebook group, click links below:
Website: Verve OT
NDIS Facebook Group: NDIS OT Community of Practice
