Leaves

Last Updated: July 2022

COAST AND COUNTRY OT PTY LTD | UNIT 1, 62 QUEEN ST MORUYA NSW 2537

Terms of Service

Our Terms of Service outline how we deliver services. It outlines our rights and responsibilities as a service provider, and the rights and responsibilities of our customers.

Please note: Our terms of service are subject to change. We will provide customers with 2 weeks’ notice before any changes take effect.

If you have any questions, please contact us on (02) 51192481.

Rights and Responsibilities

We both have rights and responsibilities. They are:

  • Be polite and respectful
  • Communicate openly and honestly
  • Provide regular updates
  • Keep safe
  • Tell each other when we need to change or cancel an appointment
  • Tell each other if there are changes to your NDIS plan
  • Keep all information private unless there are safety concerns
  • Work together to resolve problems quickly.

Coast and Country Occupational Therapy is responsible for providing services that meet your needs. We are also responsible for working within the law, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 and Rules, and Australian Consumer Law.

Feedback, Complaints and Disputes

We are committed to excellent service and continuous improvement; therefore, we welcome all types of feedback as it helps improve our service.

You can give us feedback by:

We will endeavor to review your comments and take action, if appropriate and keep you updated on any action taken.

If you would prefer to speak to someone outside of Coast and Country Occupational Therapy, you can contact these organisations:

Charges

Our hourly rates for therapy services are based on recommendations in the NDIS Price Guide.

Please note: There rates are subject to change. We will give you 4 weeks’ notice if any changes affect you.

The following will be charged:

  • All appointments with your practitioner, if there is more than one therapist at an appointment, you will be charged for each therapist.
  • Working with others to make sure therapy happens in your everyday life.
  • The time it takes to travel to the locations where you want to receive therapy.
  • Time spent helping with assistive technology
  • Completing assessments and reports
  • Making resources that help achieve your goals.
  • Your therapy team talking to one another about your therapy and goals.
  • Going to your home, school or workplace to check that everyone is safe to work there
  • Completing mandatory reports required by other professional bodies under our duty of care.
  • Writing notes after an appointment or phone call. We will charge up to 15 minutes and will only do this if we didn’t have time to write notes during an appointment.

We don’t charge for the following activities:

  • Booking appointments with you
  • Preparing for your therapy sessions
  • Setting up NDIS services
  • Completing invoices and payments
  • Therapists or students who attend appointments for learning purposes.

Travel

We provide services in a number of locations. This can include your home, school, workplace and in the community.

You will be charged for the time it takes your therapist to travel to and from an appointment from their regular place of work.

We also require non-labour travel contribution at the rate of $0.92/km

Where possible, Coast and Country try to minimise travel costs as much as possible. The best way for us to do this is by scheduling participants by locations to apportion the cost of travel to 2 or more participants. There may be times when the travel charge cannot be apportioned, and you may have to cover the full cost of travel.

If a participant who usually shares the cost of travel to a specific location, cancels an appointment, you could be charged a higher rate of travel for that appointment. Coast and Country will endeavor to replace a cancelled appointment with another participant appointment to keep travel costs down however this is not always possible.

You can also choose to come into our clinic, to reduce travel costs.

Cancellations

A cancellation is a short notice Cancellation (or no show).

A cancellation applies if the participant:

  • Does not show up for a scheduled support within a reasonable time, or is not present at the agreed place.
  • Has given less than 7 clear days notice for a support.

If you need to cancel or change an appointment, we ask that you advise our office 24 hours before your scheduled appointment.

To cancel or change an appointment, please call or text your regular practitioner between the hours of Monday – Friday, 8am – 6pm.

If you miss an appointment or cancel after 24hours of appointment, we will charge you a cancellation fee which will be based on the time your appointment was booked for and will include the cost of travel.

If you cancel often, we will discuss your therapy services and goals, and what help you might need to attend appointments. If we can’t find a solution then we may decide to stop services until you are able to attend your appointments.

Sometimes your therapist may need to cancel appointments due to sickness or other unforeseen circumstances. If/when this happens you will not be charged for the appointment. We will do our best to ensure that any appointments we cancel are rescheduled at a time that suits you.

Group Cancellations

For supports delivered to a group of participants, if a participant cancels their attendance and if we are unable to find another participant to attend the group session in their place then, if the other requirements for a short notice cancellation are met, we will bill the participant who has made the cancellation at the previously agreed rate that we would have billed the participant had they attend the group.

Invoice Payments

If you are purchasing services privately, have chosen to manage all or part of your NDIS funding you are expected to pay on the day for all clinic appointments. If you require school visits or community visits an invoice will be emailed out directly after the appointment, if you are using a Plan Manager, we will send invoices after we have provided services to your nominated plan manager.

For all emailed invoices, payment is required within 14 days of the invoice date.

Invoices can be paid by direct deposit or EFTPOS facilities in the clinic. Please use your invoice number on your invoice as the reference when making a payment.

A receipt of payment can be requested if required after payment is received.

  • If payment isn’t received within 14 days, we will send a reminder letter/email.
  • If payment isn’t received within 21 days, we will follow up with you again.
  • If payment isn’t received within 28 days, we will suspend your service.
  • If payment isn’t received within 42 days you will be discharged from service.

If unpaid invoices have to continually (approximately twice) be chased up by an administration officer, an administration charge of $50.00 will be invoiced to the person responsible for payment of account. This charge is not covered by NDIS and will be an out-of-pocket expense for the participant. The term “Continually” is at the discretion of the director.

We have the right to suspend services until full amount is paid.

For all Reports, payment must be made up front before reports will be released.

Privacy

At Coast and Country Occupational Therapy we do our best to:

  • Tell you how we keep and use your personal information
  • Follow Australian privacy laws
  • Answer any questions you have about privacy
  • Address any complaints you have about privacy
  • Improve how we manage and store personal information.

All Disability Service Providers are bound by the Privacy Act 1988. Coast and Country Occupational Therapy works to adhere to the Australian Privacy Principles which regulate how we collect, use, disclose and store personal information held about them.

External Service Delivery

Due to the nature of some participant goals, at times therapy sessions may be required in the education and/or care setting. In these settings, occupational therapy services designed to address skill development to support a child’s participation in that setting only.

Occupational therapy services delivered outside of the clinic or home will only be goals that are related to that setting.

At times, therapists may need to consult with the participants education and/or care staff. Regular “check-ins” with class teachers/carers may be necessary to ensure the participants goals are being addressed.

A consent form is required to be signed and completed by parent/guardian prior to the initial external service visit with the child.

It is the responsibility of the parent/carer to contact Coast and Country Occupational Therapy to inform them of the child’s absence from the school/care setting on the day of the agreed service time and day. It is not the responsibility of the external service staff. If

therapists are not notified; the cancellation policy will apply.

Mandatory Carer Engagement Sessions

At Coast and Country Occupational Therapy we do our best efforts to provide advice and feedback via telephone and email when able, although it can be challenging to negotiate times for when both therapist and Carer are available. We have implemented the mandatory carer engagement sessions in the hope that the meeting will ensure everyone is on the same page for the client’s therapy.

The Mandatory Carer Engagement Sessions is for therapy sessions that take place in the school environment, or if “therapy drop off” is occurring (where the child is dropped off but the caregiver is unable to attend). These meetings will occur:

  • Every 5 weeks for weekly therapy clients
  • Every 10 weeks for fortnightly therapy clients.

If the Mandatory Carer Engagement Session is not attended, therapy services will be suspended.

These sessions will be billed at the same rate of a therapy session and can be done either in the clinic or via zoom meeting.