How the telehealth assessment is kept safe
Three authorities set the standard for this assessment. AHPRA registers me as a physiotherapist. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission holds every NDIS provider to its Code of Conduct. And if your decision is reviewed, the Administrative Review Tribunal weighs the evidence I produce.
Beyond what those authorities require, I personally make sure your safety comes first. And every outcome is evidence: if we change the sequence, stop early, or decide not to go ahead, that's recorded as a finding, never as a failure, and you're never blamed for it. This page is a plain-language summary. The full protocol is published for reference.
Before we start: screening and consent
The assessment asks you to do ordinary things in a realistic order, by video from your own home, and then records what that costs you. First, I check whether it's safe for you: your condition, how you usually respond to activity, your heart and balance risk, and whether you're in a flare. There are three outcomes. We go ahead, we go ahead with a shorter or changed sequence (recorded in the report), or we don't go ahead at all. If it isn't safe for you, a report can still be written from your records and diary, and you haven't lost anything you need.
If we go ahead, you sign a consent specific to this assessment. It tells you plainly that your symptoms may get worse during it and for a while afterwards, that you can stop at any point, and that the report records what actually happens, including a day that goes better than expected.
Whichever way the screening goes, the diary helps. It's free, it takes about a minute a day, and four weeks of it shows what a single session on video can't: how your days go, how you sleep, and what activity costs you afterwards.
During the assessment: you can stop at any point, and so can I
The stopping rules are agreed before we begin. I stop if your symptoms pass an agreed point, if you lose balance or aren't coping, or if you become distressed. And I stop the moment you ask. I won't encourage you to keep going or time you against anything. This is ordinary activity in order, not a test of endurance.
- Someone with you for the whole assessment, where that's possible. If there's nobody, the tasks that need a person in the room come out, and that's recordedPREFERRED
- Somebody who can be contacted during the session, even if they aren't in the roomALWAYS
- Your address confirmed and written down, so help could reach you without delayBEFORE WE START
- Nothing with a real fall risk, and nothing involving water, heat, sharp objects or heightOFF THE LIST
- If the video drops, the assessment pauses until I can see you againOBSERVED
Having nobody to help is itself evidence of what you need, and the report says so. Changing the assessment, stopping it, or deciding not to do it changes nothing about what I'll do for you.
Afterwards: three calls, to check on you and to record the cost
I call you the next day, three days later and a week later. Each call checks how you are, and records what the assessment cost you: symptoms, sleep, and what you had to put off. The cost of a day often arrives late, and how long it lasts is what these decisions keep coming down to.
If you've become significantly worse, there's a procedure: the right care, your GP told if you agree, and a review of the screening so it catches the problem next time.
The full protocol is published, so you don't have to take my word for it
The clinical governance protocol sets out the risks, the screening criteria, the stopping rules, the video conditions, the adverse event procedure and the review schedule in full. It's versioned, dated, and reviewed after any adverse event or near miss.