Applying for funding under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can often be a lengthy and daunting process. You will often be required to present reports from your health team supporting your claim, which can range from short letters to long detailed reports. These reports can cover everything from your current physical capacity to your home environment and even capability to access the community.
When coming in for your first session at C2M, your treating clinician will ask a lot of questions. Some of these may seem personal but this information can be crucial in order to best understand how your condition impacts you. These questions may include:
What’s your current diagnosed or suspected disability?
For applicants looking to secure further funding or are up for their yearly review this is as simple as providing your current NDIS registered disability or condition, plus the inclusion of any new or recurrent injuries etc . For new applicants this may be the first time you are attempting to access the NDIS, new applicants are required to provide documents from their treating physicians as well as any specialist appointment you may have attended. These documents will be added to your portfolio along with your physiotherapy report and will ensure the NDIS has multiple sources to confirm your current disability level.
What’s your current mobility level?
When asked this question it’s important to give as much detail as you can to your treating clinician. This will help give us an idea of the areas you are currently struggling in, wether it may be walking, transferring between devices or accessing the community. This will be further tested later on however its essential all your treating clinicians understand where you feel your mobility is and any issues you face in your day to day life.
Do you suffer any pain?
Pain can be a really important aspect of any condition, its often overlooked from a diagnostic point of view despite the massive impact it may have on your function. Letting your clinician know, where and when pain occurs will help tailor not only your treatment but the report as a whole.
What supports do you currently access?
Whether its vital in home care or some one to do the mowing, giving your therapist a full understanding of the current support/care staff you see regularly will help us fortify these supports within the report. This can help not only maintain access to current supports but will help identify any gaps in your current treatment team that may have been overlooked.
What does an average week look like?
This question helps clinicians identify the types of activities you frequently partake in, as well as providing a good understanding of your activity levels. Make sure you answer with as much detail as you can, providing a thorough weekly schedule can help clinicians individualise your report and make sure key activities are identified and supported correctly.
Finally and most importantly, What are your goals?
This is the basis of every report, the NDIS exists to help those living with disability to achieve their goals, whether its improving fitness, decreasing pain or getting better access to the community. Physiotherapy and Exercise physiology is often an important aspect of this and can build a strong foundation for you to propel yourself to the next level, ensuring these are frequently updated and current is essential to ensure the highest quality of care is provided.
From here you will complete a series of physical/mental tests to help us find which areas need the most attention. This not only helps with providing a baseline to assess future progress on it also helps identify important milestones that need to be reached to allow you to better achieve your goals. Don’t be too scared though these tests are tailored to the individual and our experienced staff will make sure anything test is done in a manner that is safe and comfortable for you and your clinician.
This can include:
- Joint ranging and muscle health checks
- Baseline mobility drills
- Strength assessments
- Balance drills
- Special tests based on presentation
Lastly based on your appointment results your clinician may provide you with referrals to other allied health staff, this is done so that we can cover all the bases and make the application as stress free as possible.
Once you have completed all that hard work a detailed report will be compiled and provided to you, detailing the findings and recommendations which can then be attached and submitted with your NDIS application.
At C2M our clinicians are able to assess your current condition and provide written letters and recommendations. These written supports can be of significant help to further your application and ultimately get you the funding you require to start or continue your journey back to your best self