We aim to offer an initial appointment within 8 weeks of receiving an online referral form. Depending on your needs and clinician capacity, wait times may vary between locations. To make a referral please complete our online referral form and we will contact you when an appointment becomes available. 

A referral from a doctor is not required to access our services, however, some medical, psychology, and therapy services are eligible for Medicare rebates if there is a GP or medical specialist referral. 

Our competitive fee structure is reflective of our commitment to making our services more affordable and accessible to as many people as possible.

Please note: Patches aligns its allied health and psychology prices with the NDIS Price Guide which is subject to change. Fees for agency funded services such as justice and child protection may vary depending on the location.

Therapy: See below table for current price guide for NDIS and Private therapy services:

Assessments: See below table for current price guide for Private assessment services:

Services that are billed at the unit (hourly) rate include:

Face-to-face supports: Initial assessment, ongoing therapy sessions

Non face-to-face supports:

– Up to 15 minutes per session to allow for note writing

– Correspondence by phone, email, or other communication with family, schools, caseworkers, and other specialists

– Patches clinician attendance at case conferences

– Report writing: Initial consultation and/or comprehensive report

– Customised preparation and resource development

– Travel as per NDIS travel guidelines. Please note when a local clinician is unavailable, travel will be quoted for a travelling clinician

– Where possible, travel may be reduced when services are delivered to multiple participants in the same region

– When more than one therapist is delivering therapy sessions you will be charged per the number of therapists delivering the session, e.g, a multidisciplinary appointment or for handover between therapists when transferring cases

*Please note a provisionally registered psychologist will charge at the NDIS rate applicable to counselling in Therapeutic Support

Service activities will be charged based on the actual time taken to complete the activity

Patches does not charge NDIS plans for:  

– Scheduling or changing appointment times​​

– Pre-engagement visits/correspondence ​​

– Developing and agreeing on service agreements​​

– Entering or updating participant details in our system​​

– Planning and adjustment of staff travel​​

– Monitoring NDIS plan usage​​

– Making service bookings and claiming for payments​​

Our travel costs and labour time costs are in line with the current NDIS price guide.

The rate for cents per kilometre (currently 97 cents) as per the NDIS price guide.

Travel time billed in metropolitan areas is capped at 30 minutes each way. Remote areas are capped at 60 minutes each way.

Outreach Travel Costs: Travel costs including airfare, accommodation, and vehicle hire will be charged at the actual costs incurred.  These costs will be pooled across multiple clients where possible to reduce cost to each individual.

You can access our services privately as well as through the NDIS. Please read the FAQ for “What is the cost of your services” for more details.

There is a specific process involved with being eligible for the NDIS. Factors such as age, type and functional impacts of disability, and residence must be considered prior to receiving funding under the NDIS. You can find out if you’re eligible by completing the eligibility checklist on the NDIS website.

You are welcome to submit a referral and begin therapy as a privately paying participant until NDIS eligibility is determined. Please note that services paid for privately prior to NDIS eligibility being determined cannot be reimbursed.

Consultations with our paediatric, allied health, and psychology clinicians under the appropriate Medicare Plan may attract a Medicare rebate. Ask your GP about the most appropriate Medicare Plan or for more information please visit: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/.

Privately paying clients may be eligible for private insurance rebates for certain services. Please contact your private health insurer for details of which services may be covered. 

We require a telephone call and follow up email from the family, to make a cancellation.  

We require a minimum of 2 business days’ notice for cancellations. Failure to provide this notice will forfeit the full cost of the service. 

For outreach services, i.e., when a clinician is required to travel by road or air to provide services, we require a minimum of 5 business days’ notice for cancellations. Failure to provide this notice will forfeit the full cost of the service along with associated travel costs.

Privately funded clients
Payment of the full cost of the service is required at the time of the appointment.

Self-Managed NDIS clients
Patches will send invoices directly to you for services completed. Payments must be paid within 7 days of the invoice date. Failure to do so will result in therapy services being suspended until payments are cleared. If there are any issues or extenuating circumstances resulting in delayed payment, please contact Patches staff.

Plan-Managed NDIS clients
Patches will invoice your nominated Plan Manager and payments will be made on your behalf by your Plan Manager. Payments must be paid within 7 days of the invoice date. Failure to do so will result in therapy services being suspended until payments are cleared. If there are any issues or extenuating circumstances resulting in delayed payment, please contact Patches staff.

NDIA-Agency-Managed clients
Patches is authorised to make and accept service bookings directly to the NDIS for the agreed supports on your behalf. Patches will directly claim payment from the NDIS portal. 

A Service Agreement is a contract between the client and their service provider (Patches). The Patches Service Agreement contains:

-The services and supports Patches provides and the client agrees to receiving

– Client information including Name, DOB, NDIS number (if applicable) and funding type

-Patches contact details

-The dates/timeframe for services to be delivered by Patches

-Prices of Patches services

-Terms & conditions of Patches services and what is classified as billable activities​

-Client and provider responsibilities​

-Patches Cancellation policy and conflict of interest disclaimer​

-Information on feedback and/or complaints​

Yes. Patches therapists provide services to clients in a range of settings including home, school, around the community, or within our clinics. 

A Functional Capacity Assessment is an assessment of a persons functional Performance of activities in their home and community. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive assessment of a person’s needs and goals. This includes identifying their level of independence and the level of assistance they require within multiple functional domains:

• Communication: includes being understood in spoken, written, or sign language, understanding others, and the ability to express needs
• Social interaction: includes making and keeping friends, interacting with the community, behaving within limits accepted by others, and the ability to cope with one’s feelings and emotions in a social context
• Learning: includes understanding and remembering information, learning new things, and practicing and using new skills. Learning does not include educational supports
• Mobility: means the ability of a person to move around the home and community to undertake ordinary activities of daily living requiring the use of limbs.
• Self-care: relates to activities related to personal care, hygiene, grooming, feeding oneself, and the ability to care for one’s own health care needs
• Self-management: means the cognitive capacity to organise one’s life, to plan and make decisions, and to take responsibility for oneself. This includes completing daily tasks, making decisions, problem solving, and managing finances

A report will be provided describing what a person can do independently and recommendations for the support a person needs to meet their needs, achieve their goals and continue to live and participate at home and in their community. This might include recommendations for therapy services, assistance from support workers or specific aids and equipment.

We can see our clients across a range of different settings in order to support individuals and families to reach their goals, depending on their individual needs. Our options include:

Face-to-face options:

Clinic visits are sometimes the most suitable place for therapy and can offer a structured, less distracting setting for participants. Clinic visits are a time and cost-effective option because no travel time is charged for clinicians to visit and sometimes the most convenient option for participants.

School visits can be completed by Patches clinicians if this is a suitable environment for services and the school allows external services to visit on site. Therapy at school has many benefits including less withdrawal time for children during the day, collaboration between school staff and therapists and familiarity of the environment for children. Therapy at school might be:

– Individual 1:1 session at a designated room at the school. With or without parent present ​​depending on therapy goals and parent preference.

– 1:1 session in the classroom​

– Classroom observations​​

Home visits are sometimes necessary or the most appropriate environment to achieve therapy outcomes. ​It is the choice of the client if they wish to receive therapy services at home. Patches’ clinicians might visit a participant at home to complete environmental and skill-based assessments, to support skill development in natural learning environments or if there are transport issues for participant ​​impacting their ability to attend appointments.

Community visits ​involve any services that are conducted outside of the Patches clinic, clients’ home or school. Some community locations will be the most suitable location for clients to achieve their therapy goals such as day care centers, community outdoor spaces, respite houses, shopping centers or aged care homes.

Outreach. Our outreach service enables our clinicians to provide services to our clients that may not have the ability to see us at one of our clinics. Our clinicians travel by plane or road. The frequency and duration of outreach services to particular locations will vary depending on the local demand for services in the community and the availability of Patches staff to travel regularly.

Outreach Travel Costs: There will be travel time and travel costs charged to clients who receive outreach services.  Travel costs include airfare, accommodation and vehicle hire. Clinician travel time is billed at the hourly rate of the travelling clinician in line with the NDIS price guide. Costs may be pooled between participants seen by the clinician on the outreach visit to reduce the costs to each individual.

Non face-to-face options:

Telehealth

Telehealth is conducted over videoconference or phone and the 3 methods of therapy are coaching, consulting and direct therapy. Telehealth might be the most appropriate option for therapy due to:

– A client’s remote location and services not being locally available

– A client’s availability to attend for in person for convenience, health or other reasons

– A client seeing a Patches clinician with particular expertise who is not based in the client’s region

– A clinicians’ inability to travel due to unforeseen circumstances i.e., government imposed travel restrictions and natural disasters

Meetings

Patches staff might be required to attend meetings to ensure collaborative and coordinated services for clients.  Meetings can be held face-to-face or scheduled over videoconference.

The types of meetings a Patches staff member might attend for clients are:

– Goal setting and service planning meetings with participants and their key stakeholders

– Interagency meetings for collaborative and coordinated care​​

– Case conferences at school, meetings with teachers and education staff​​

– Meetings with Support Coordinators ​​​​

– Multidisciplinary meetings/case conferences with other Patches team members or external health professionals

Please refer to ‘Contact’ page for an up-to-date list of the communities that we service.

A multidisciplinary team comprises of a number of allied health clinicians who work together to conduct a joint service rather than working separately in their particular fields.

A multidisciplinary team offers clients the ability to see an expert team under the one roof. Depending on your therapy goals and needs the team of clinicians may include; 

– A Speech Pathologist 

– An Occupational Therapist

– A Physiotherapist or Exercise Physiologist

– A Psychologist

– An Allied Health Assistant

-Paediatrician

Our multidisciplinary allied health team deliver tailored therapy supports that meet your goals, within your timeframe.

Absolutely. If there is a preferred clinician you would like to see, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate you.

Patches is committed to continuous improvement. We value your feedback so that we can further refine our service delivery options and improve the customer experience. To provide feedback, please email: feedback@patches.com.au.

If you don’t think that Patches can address your concerns, and you are an NDIS participant, you can email: feedback@ndis.gov.au or give feedback directly to the NDIS commission at: www.ndiscommission.gov.au/about/complaints

To book a Patches service, please complete our online referral form. A member of our team will be in touch with you to schedule an initial appointment.

Most information can be obtained through chatting with Patch, our chatbot.  Otherwise, our friendly team are happy to assist you with any queries you may have. Please contact us via: hello@patches.com.au to get in touch with us today.

We are specialists in functional needs assessments for the NDIS.  Our team of expert clinicians are also skilled in a wide range of neurodevelopmental, functional, and mental health assessments.  These include but are not limited to the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Global Developmental Delay (GDD), Learning Difficulties, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

A range of neurodevelopmental conditions may be screened for during an assessment, however, a full diagnostic assessment cannot be provided for multiple conditions during one session.

Patches currently has the capacity to complete one-off assessments only, we do not provide medication scripts or ongoing medication management services/paediatrician care. As a part of this assessment, recommendations for therapy and other supports will be provided to you. If you would like to access therapy services, then we would be happy to pass your details across to our therapy team for ongoing support.

A Patches assessment aims to document specific areas of cognitive, functional, or behavioural difficulty.  In some cases, a specific diagnosis may be made, such as for ADHD, Autism, or FASD.  It is not possible to guarantee that an assessment, even if a diagnosis is made, will lead to NDIS eligibility.  Patches assessment reports are written in a way that addresses the NDIS eligibility criteria, based on functional ability.  Depending on the overall diagnostic outcome, and the level of functional ability impairment, the NDIS will review your assessment and application, independent of Patches.

Patches cannot apply to the NDIS on behalf of individuals. This is the responsibility of the individual, or their caregivers/family, who may provide the Patches assessment report, and any other relevant information, to the NDIS.  Information on NDIS eligibility can be found via the following link.

The Patches assessment process may involve an assessment team that includes a medical doctor, speech pathologist, psychologist, and/or occupational therapist. Patches provides all of these assessments in a coordinated diagnostic process to reduce the cost to individuals and families, and to simplify their journey. Our diagnostic reports are completed within a short timeframe, and following a diagnosis, Patches can provide ongoing support and therapy services. The goal of our assessment process is to:

Step 1- Understanding your needs and goals: Gathering academic, behavioural and past assessment information from school and home, via referral forms and screening questionnaires.

Step 2 – Listening to you: Asking what your goals and priorities are with the assessment. Then taking a full developmental history in a diagnostic interview from individuals or carers, including information about pregnancy and infancy, through early childhood and to the current time.

Step 3 – Assessing strengths, challenges, and symptoms: Speaking with, observing, and interacting with the child, adolescent or adult either in person or via telehealth, using evidence-based and standardised questionnaires or assessments.

Step 4 – Making sense of things and providing the pathway forward: Our clinicians will thoughtfully prepare a written diagnostic report and communicate this via email to with the client or family and the referring doctor. Recommendations for therapy and support will be provided. Families and clients can book a feedback session with one of our clinicians if they wish to discuss or clarify their diagnostic report.

After the assessment report is completed and distributed –

Families and clients can request a further session with one of our clinicians if they wish to discuss or clarify their diagnostic report. This may be scheduled in addition to the assessment itself and may incur an additional fee.