11/06/2025
What impact will the new NDIS recommendations mean for providers and participants?
First off, are we as a profession, less valued than other allied health providers? Further, paediatrics is a specialised scope of practice requiring extensive additional training to do the job WELL.
CHILDREN ARE NOT JUST “SMALL ADULTS”. If experienced paediatric clinicians leave the NDIS, children with complex and potentially life threatening conditions will be left in the hands of new grads with little to no paediatric experience.
Children who are culturally and/or socioeconomically disadvantaged WILL DIE without access to experienced clinicians. Thats not a “maybe”.. that is a FACT.
Put simply - with 10 years experience as a complex paediatric physio, with not one, but two degrees.. my current annual profit is substantially less than my first year out of uni as a new grad.
To make it feasible to continue to deliver services, particularly in areas like Cairns, you can expect to see the following:
1. Outreach clinics will no longer be sustainable due to 50% cut in provider travel time.
- Children who do not live in a major city or town will lose the very few paediatric physios currently servicing the area. Unfortunately I’ve witnessed the catastrophic impact on a childs health and function as a result of services being delivered by physios who primarily work with adults. Paediatric physiotherapy is a unique and specialised field of practice, requiring substantial additional training and experience due to the unique needs of children. This is especially important when it comes to diagnosics, implementing early critical preventative measures and predicting future needs for children who will be undergoing surgery, are at risk of losing function and those with progressive, life limiting conditions.
- These outreach services are substantially more expensive to deliver due to higher insurance premiums (based on annual use >20,000km), additional venue hire, vehicle wear and tear, etc.
- It also limits capacity to accept clients in Cairns to offset the loss, as whole days are committed to servicing these smaller communities.
2. Less flexibility to deliver the most suitable, effective physiotherapy services with respect to modality, location, child safety etc.
- Limited scope to chose a venue based on the needs of the child, as it will no longer be feasible to block of provider travel to suitable venues further from the office. This will be due to the need to use that time to accept new clients.
- Less choice and flexibility for parents to choose a time that suits their needs, as dedicated blocks of time will be dedicated to seeing multiple children at one venue on an allocated day and time.
- Children and families who experience socioeconomic disadvantage will face FURTHER difficulties accessing services, as it will no longer be feasible or sustainable to accept a larger proportion of clients with complex extenuating circumstances affecting their capacity to travel to/from appointments. I strongly believe ALL children deserve access to appropriate support from an experienced clinician, regardless of socioeconomic status, family structure, cultural diversity or rural/remote location.
3. Providers will be required to increase the number of participants accessing the service, reducing the amount of time available to tend to the needs of children with complex needs in a timely manner.
- YOU think waiting 4 months for a wheelchair to be approved, 3 months for it to be delivered is bad? Wait until I can no longer dedicate my weekend to completing 25 page AT forms.
- Greater reluctance to accept complex cases (my favourite) due to the amount of additional (and often probono) time that goes into doing the BEST JOB POSSIBLE to get them the critical supports they need. Doing “bare minimum” is not who I am, and it is never who I will be. There is a lot of sacrifice to keep true to those values, but there is nothing left to scarifice at this point, except the roof over my head.
Shane Knuth MP Bob Katter Anthony Albanese Michael Healy MP Terry James Amanda Camm MP Mark Butler MP Jenny McAllister Emma McBride MP Rebecca White
