Frequently asked questions

HPOT is a mobile service, working with children from birth up until the end of primary school. HPOT consult with early childhood and school services and also work directly with families. Please see the Services tab for more information. HPOT see self-managed, plan managed NDIS clients and private clients. Available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays within 30 minutes of Essendon. If this sounds like you, please get in touch, HPOT would love to hear from you.

Occupational Therapists help children to participate and build independence in everyday activities such as playing, eating, dressing, toileting and sleeping. Occupational Therapists help find fun and motivating ways to develop your child’s skills. HPOT work on the goals that are important to you and your family. Occupational Therapists help you to understand your child’s senses and find ways that support your child to improve their attention and enjoyment. HPOT focus on your child’s strengths and work in a family centred way, considering the unique needs of each child and their support network in their natural environments.

In our first appointment, we will complete a Service Agreement and a Routines Based Interview. Routines Based Interview is a detailed conversation about your family and child’s day—the areas that are challenging for you, what is going well, and where you would like some help. At the end of this conversation, we will set goals for you and your child. This process usually takes 2 hours. A 1.5 hour meeting with you plus another 30 minutes of non-contact time writing up the details. Using a Routines Based Interview we can truly understand your child’s needs throughout the different times of the day, environments, family and social interactions.

During our regular visits, HPOT will start by checking in on what happened since the last visit and confirm the goal you want to work on for the day—priorities can change and we want to focus on what is most important to you. We will then work on the goal identified and ask you to practice with your child as relevant. We will discuss your routine and opportunities you might have to practice with your child throughout your everyday routine. You will be provided with information and / or referrals if necessary. We will check in at the end of the session for feedback and make sure everyone is clear on the strategies to try between visits. Our strategies are meant to be part of everyday routine so there are many opportunities for you and your child to practice without it becoming an additional task. Sometimes our sessions will look like play and it may be difficult to understand how it connects to the goal you want to achieve. If this happens, please ask us to explain our recommendations and how it links to your goal.

The goals you have identified might mean we need to spend time with your child in your chosen environment eg. school, kindergarten or childcare. In this case, we will work within the child’s natural setting.

No, you do not need a referral unless you intend on claiming a Medicare rebate. Please let us know if this is the case.

HPOT is registered with Medicare. You may be eligible for a rebate through your private health fund. Please contact your health fund to explore this.

HPOT is guided by the relevant NDIS price guide. Currently this is set at $193.99 per hour plus travel. This will be updated as per NDIS guidelines as appropriate. Services charged by the hour include direct contact service and non-contact service such as reports. Additional administration tasks will be charges will be billed at 15 minute increments. An easy way of thinking about this is anything outside a direct therapy session that helps support a child's goals and helps them to achieve outcomes. This might be client support that we're doing through the form of phone calls or emails to a classroom teacher or other professional. It also might include report writing or other administration tasks. HPOT really values transparency, and will always work with you to develop a list of agreed activities when we're thinking about non-contact services that we might be providing.

HPOT is a pay on the day clinic. An invoice will be sent on the day of service, and this will need to be paid either via bank transfer or in cash on the same day. Plan managed invoices will be sent directly to their plan manager and payment must be made within 7 days of service.

HPOT have a 48hr cancellation policy. This means that if you cancel your session with more than 48 hours notice, you will not be billed for the session. HPOT understand that sometimes unexpected circumstances mean that you may need to cancel within the 48 hours before your visit. You will be billed for the session time when this occurs. HPOT can work with you to determine if we can find an alternative way of providing service to you in place of your visit. This could be a telehealth session instead, or we may use this time following discussion with you to complete administrative tasks such as reports. Please make contact as soon as you are aware that you will need to cancel, including if your child or someone in the house is unwell at the time of a scheduled appointment. We appreciate you understanding this policy, as cancelled appointments usually go unfilled, and our cancellation policy is required for the continued operation of our business.

Sometimes it is more efficient to meet via Telehealth. This saves travel time/costs and may mean you can fit an appointment in to your day that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Telehealth is convenient and allows us to have a discussion wherever you are.

During our work together, it's likely that you will share personal health and sensitive information about your child and family. Sharing this information helps to ensure that the service you receive is tailored to your individual needs and goals. HPOT make a commitment to respect and protect your legal right to privacy and confidentiality. We will collect, store and use your personal and confidential information responsibly. There may be times when it's helpful for us to speak to other people such as your paediatrician or a teacher regarding your child, their development or their NDIS plan. HPOT will ask you first for your explicit and written consent prior to these discussions. The only exception to this is if we have concerns that your child or family is at significant risk of harm, and then we must report concerns to the relevant services wherever possible, if it's safe for us to do so, we will talk to you about this. You can speak to us at any time if you have questions about working with HPOT and privacy and confidentiality.

HPOT values your feedback. Please contact us to provide positive feedback as well as any complaints.