After working in the public system and then NDIS for several years, our principal OT ‘Stephanie’ saw time and time again the lack of collaborative practice. The same conversations were repeated, meetings upon meetings discussing a client’s goals, and little was being achieved. That is why together we have developed a new model to support our clients to achieve their goals, in a cost-effective way, doing health care differently.

Rather than OT’s delivering their therapeutic interventions, we believe support workers can be utilised to “do the ground work”, and save on the clients NDIS funding. This means the OT will meet with a client, complete an assessment and/or interpret previous OT assessments, and develop an individualised step by step program for our clients. Our support workers will then be supported by our OT’s to deliver this tailored program, utilising specialist intervention tools, and “doing the reps” with the client.

The OT will meet with the client when necessary to provide specialist input, and consult regularly with the support workers.

The results: Our clients are receiving specialist intervention regularly, and utilising less funding, as the support workers are implementing the interventions, overseen by our OT’s.