Driving Well Occupational Therapy

22/07/2025

🚗 Do you take medicinal cannabis and are unsure if you can drive? You can read more about the medicinal cannabis and driving on our blog this Friday! 🧠✨

18/07/2025

🎉 Success Story Spotlight! We’re thrilled to share the success of Michael and his new boot hoist!

14/07/2025

Us OTs are continuing to OT through all the turmoil of the NDIS... I had a fantastic outcome with our client Steve today - but got me thinking on the value and return on investment that our service delivers...

Learn how timely OT driver assessments can safely return professional drivers to work sooner and save employers thousands in lost productivity.

05/07/2025

And congratulations to our client Tony who won his first ever 5km wheelchair race at the Gold Coast marathon this morning!

Brisbane’s Antoine Sandoz powered to victory in today’s Wheelchair 5km, crossing in 19:41! 🏁
He was followed by Pete Rudland (20:21) and Grant Cunningham (20:34) in a strong showing.
Well raced, legends! 💪

05/07/2025

It's been a great couple of days at the Source Kids expo, connecting with clients and OTs about driving and vehicle mods!

03/07/2025

We are going to be at Source Kids expo teaming up with our colleagues from Alternate Mobility tomorrow and Saturday, at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre! Lots of vehicle mods to see and try out, and come chat to us about learning to drive with a disability...

01/07/2025

📢 NDIS Pricing Update: OTA Advocacy in Action.

With the NDIA’s Annual Pricing Review decision taking effect from today, OTA remains committed to advocating strongly on our NDIS pricing campaign.

Meeting with MPs, Senators, government advisers and other peak bodies is a critical part of effective advocacy. These conversations allow us to directly communicate the impact of pricing decisions, influence policy thinking, build cross-party awareness, and ensure occupational therapists’ voices are heard at the highest levels.

In the past week alone, OTA have:
✅ Met twice with the Office of NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister
✅ Met with Nationals MP Pat Conaghan
✅Met with the office of Greens Senator David Shoebridge
✅ Worked with the Council of Small Business Australia (COSBOA) on the impact of the pricing decision for allied health small businesses and pursuing joint advocacy in this space.
✅Met with senior staff at NDIA alongside other peaks to discuss the impact of the latest pricing decision and call for better engagement with the allied health sector. The NDIA acknowledged that their stakeholder engagement has not been adequate and committed to more regular engagement with OTA and other peaks, including regular meetings.

🔊 OTA’s message remains clear - we will continue to represent our members and amplify the campaign message: No OTs, No NDIS: Pay Us Fairly!

30/06/2025

💔 NDIS Cuts Start Tomorrow — And People Like Mary Will Pay the Price

Travel is getting cut to 50% (and it's already capped to 30 minutes), and the OT rate remains frozen for the 7th year in a row.
$193.99/hour sounds like a lot.

But it’s not a wage — it’s the capped service rate therapists to cover all the costs for all operations of the business and service delivery.

And on a good day, therapists can bill maybe 5 hours - but not every day and not every week of the year (they still have annual leave, sick leave, professional development etc)

That amount has to stretch across:
🧾 Wages & super (going up to 12% from tomorrow)
🛡️ Insurances & audits
💻 IT, phones, admin (accountant, bookkeeper, xero, practice software, MS365, printing and stationary, clinical assessment tools)
📚 Clinical tools, supervision, AHPRA registration and OT Australia association fees, business coaching
🚗 Vehicle costs (travel allowance at 99c/km is required under the Health Professionals & Support Services Act)

Now let me tell you about Mary.

Mary is a 62 year old lady living with C7 quadriplegia. She is an NDIS participant. We’ve worked with her over the last three years — at home and in the community — to transition to return to driving from her electric wheelchair as she can no longer reliably manage transfers into the driver's seat. (It has taken that long to go through the assessments, get the approval, get the vehicle, and modify the vehicle).

Yep it's an investment that will enable her to:
✔️ Get to work - yes, she is still working as a health professional
✔️ Attend appointments and daily community activities - shopping, GP, chemist, bank etc
✔️Take her dog out for beachside walks
✔️ Head out to the shops or movies
✔️ Achieve her goal of travelling around Australia (just like my parents currently are)
✔️ And reduce her need for support workers and NDIA-funded travel.

It’s a huge investment in her future — one that reduces long-term NDIS costs.

But this work couldn’t happen in a clinic.
And it definitely couldn’t happen over the phone.

Mary uses an electric wheelchair and relies on unreliable maxi taxis. She can barely leave her home.
I had to assess her vehicle setup at home and at the vehicle modifier to make sure that the modifications and vehicle would meet her needs and fit.

When something went wrong with her ramp, I had to go back out — and liaise with the vehicle modifier directly.

This is what good OT looks like.

Life changing and cost-saving in the long run.
Yet tomorrow, the NDIS is cutting travel funding by 50%.
And the hourly rate for OTs has been frozen for 7 years (and physios, dietitians and podiatrists are getting a cut of $10/hour).

The math ain't mathing.... a cut for my small business that actually threatens viability - my accountant has said so.

But a small cost to the agency that will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct and much more indirect savings.
It doesn't make sense.

The allied health industry has spoken up and shown the real numbers, and shared the stories.

But the government hasn’t listened.

I've written to my local MP Cook and been ignored.
I've written to NDIS Providers email and been ignored.
🛑 The cuts will hurt people like Mary.
😭The cuts will hurt you if you ever have an accident or medical condition that leaves you with a life changing disability.
📢 Please help us share the truth behind the $193.99.

Everyone should be angry about this.

What can you do? Your call to action is to please:
1) sign the petition: https://www.change.org/.../stand-up-for-disability...
2) Send a letter to your local MP using the link here: https://www.itsnowornever.com.au/the-11th-hour

Join the campaign against the 1 July 2025 NDIS price changes. Learn how funding cuts impact people with disability, watch the webinar, and sign up to stay updated as we fight for fair and accessible support. It’s now or never.

28/06/2025

How exciting to have had a shout out from OTA about our driving therapy Toolkit on day 3 of the OT conference!

Day 3 closed with powerful insights that bridged research and real-world impact — from Katrina Pacey’s fresh take on the PEO model, to Jenny Gribbin’s findings on toolkit usability, and Sarah Seekamp’s focus on child protection and interprofessional collaboration.

We ended on a high note as OTA President Priscilla Ennals reflected on three days of connection, learning, and community — and officially launched our next chapter: OTX 2026 in Brisbane!

Thank you for being part of this unforgettable event. We can’t wait to see you next year at OTX in Brisbane!

24/06/2025

The last two weeks have been pretty rough on NDIS land.. the freeze on pricing plus cuts to travel are significantly impacting the allied health industry.

They were supposed to crack down on people rorting the NDIS, but health professionals are warning new cuts could see vulnerable patients miss out on vital services.

See the full story TONIGHT on