Sign your agreement

Parties

Provider: Seeds Occupational Therapy, led by Principal Occupational Therapist Nishadip (Nisha) K. Bal. Participant: the person receiving the assessment, or their nominated representative. For children, this is the parent or legal guardian.

Supports provided

This agreement covers a one-off Functional Capacity Assessment for adults or children, usually completed by video unless otherwise agreed, resulting in a detailed written report to support NDIS access, planning or review. The assessment focuses on functional capacity in everyday life, and may include a clinical interview, relevant standardised tools where clinically appropriate, and review of the documents you provide.

How the service works

You complete a structured intake form, and provide any relevant reports, plans or letters. We meet online to explore daily life, strengths, challenges, goals and risks. Where appropriate, a senior OT from the Seeds team may conduct the interview; for children this is usually with the parent or guardian.

The interview is audio recorded, with your consent, for note-taking and accuracy. Recordings may be transcribed using secure tools, including AI-assisted systems such as Google Gemini, used only to support clinical documentation and handled in line with privacy requirements. If you do not want to be recorded, we cannot continue with the service. All information is reviewed by Nisha Bal, who does the clinical reasoning and writes the final report. Reports are not outsourced.

Responsibilities

Clinical integrity

We don't accept requests for specific wording, diagnoses or recommendations to be included. All reports are based on clinical judgement, the available evidence, and professional standards, so they stay accurate, ethical and suitable for NDIS decision-making. Additional information and clarification are always welcome.

Fees and payments

The total cost is $969.95. This includes the intake form, document review, the interview, report writing, and communication with your support team where appropriate. No referral is required. If your NDIS plan is self- or plan-managed, the fee is usually claimable, subject to your plan and funding.

Invoices are issued by Seeds Occupational Therapy before the interview. Early payment helps the process run smoothly; if needed, payment can be made after the interview, and the report is released once payment is received. This flat fee assumes you're reasonably able to engage with the intake form, documents and email. If more interview time is needed because written material can't be completed, the flat-fee model may not suit, and any change to scope or fee is discussed and agreed in writing first.

Cancellations and missed appointments

Please give at least 24 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule your interview. Cancelling less than 24 hours before your interview, or not attending it, incurs a fee of $193.99 (one hour at the NDIS rate), for the clinician's time held for you and the preparation already done. Cancelling or rescheduling with 24 hours' notice or more costs nothing.

After the report is provided

A final report is provided rather than a draft process. If you need clarification after receiving it, contact us and we'll respond by email.

Duty of care and safeguarding

If urgent risks to safety are identified, we may share relevant information with appropriate services in line with professional duty of care and legal obligations.

NDIS decision-making

An FCA provides clinical opinion based on functional evidence. It doesn't guarantee NDIS access, funding approval or specific outcomes. All decisions are made by the NDIA.

Changes to this agreement

Any changes are discussed and confirmed in writing.

Ending this agreement

Either party may end this agreement with written notice. Costs incurred up to that point remain payable.

Complaints and feedback

We welcome feedback and manage complaints in line with NDIS Practice Standards. If unresolved, you may contact the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

Privacy and confidentiality

We comply with Australian privacy law. Your information is stored securely and used only for assessment purposes unless required by law. Our Privacy Policy, which you'll read next on this page, sets this out in full.

Assessment approach and specific assessment requests

By proceeding with this service, I confirm that I have read the Seeds Occupational Therapy Functional Capacity Assessment Guide and Frequently Asked Questions and understand the assessment process, scope of service and report format.

I understand that Seeds Occupational Therapy uses a combination of clinical interview, review of supporting documentation, functional analysis and, where clinically appropriate, standardised assessment tools to complete Functional Capacity Assessments. The specific assessment methods and standardised tools used are selected by the assessing Occupational Therapist based on the individual's circumstances, referral purpose and clinical judgement.

If I, my nominee, support coordinator, treating practitioner, legal representative or funding body would like a particular standardised assessment, outcome measure, assessment tool or specific report content considered, I'll let Seeds Occupational Therapy know before the assessment interview wherever possible, so my therapist can confirm it's suitable and include it in the assessment.

I understand that letting Seeds Occupational Therapy know my specific requirements early means they can plan the assessment around them and include them in my report. If something comes up after the assessment or after my report is finished, Seeds will do what it reasonably can to help; occasionally that involves some additional time or cost, which we'd agree together first.

By accepting this agreement, I confirm that I understand how Seeds Occupational Therapy delivers Functional Capacity Assessments and am satisfied to proceed on this basis.

Legal and tribunal matters

This is an independent clinical assessment, and Seeds Occupational Therapy is not a medico-legal service. We are not engaged as expert witnesses. We don't prepare expert witness reports, court reports or expert evidence for legal, tribunal or court proceedings, we don't accept instructions to write or amend a report to meet the requirements of a proceeding, and we don't attend hearings to give evidence.

That describes the work we take on, not what happens to your report. Once your assessment is complete the report is yours, and nothing in this agreement stops you giving it to the NDIA, a plan manager, a support coordinator, a lawyer, an advocate, a tribunal or anyone else you choose.

An expert witness is engaged on different terms from ours. Their paramount duty is owed to the court or tribunal rather than to the person who retained them, and their report must carry formal declarations about their instructions, the assumptions they worked from, their qualifications and the limits of their expertise. That is a distinct professional role, and it is not the service we provide.

How your report is written does not change either way. As section 05 sets out, it reflects the assessment carried out, the evidence reviewed and the therapist's clinical judgement. We are also bound by our obligations as registered health practitioners: to be honest and not misleading in what we write, not to deliberately leave out relevant information, and not to give an opinion beyond the limits of our expertise. Those obligations are why we cannot write towards a conclusion decided in advance, remove a clinically relevant finding, or attribute a person's functional difficulties to a particular diagnosis where the assessment does not support it.

Errors of fact are a different matter and are corrected on request. Correcting a fact is not a change of clinical opinion.

If we are served with a summons or subpoena, or another legal requirement to produce records or information, we must comply, and your consent is not needed for us to do so. We will tell you when it happens, unless we are prevented by law from telling you.

The information we collect

Most of what we hold is information you give us, or that's provided on your behalf by a parent, carer, guardian, support coordinator, plan manager or referrer. This includes your name, date of birth, contact details, NDIS participant number, plan details, and the people involved in your care.

Because we provide health services, much of what we collect is sensitive information, including health and disability information: medical history, diagnoses, assessment results, reports from other providers, therapy notes, and how a person manages everyday activities. For child clients we also collect information about the child's development, schooling and home environment, provided by parents and carers.

How we collect it

We collect information directly from you wherever we can: through our intake process, by email or phone, and during appointments. As part of setting up your assessment, you complete our intake questionnaire as a PDF and upload it, along with any supporting documents, into a secure folder in our Google Drive (Google Workspace).

Sometimes we collect information from others, with your consent or where the law allows: from referrers including GPs, from the NDIS or your plan manager, from other treating practitioners, and from family members or carers involved in your care.

Why we collect and use it

We use your information to provide occupational therapy and Functional Capacity Assessments, to communicate with you and your care team, to write and deliver reports including reports for the NDIS, to arrange appointments and invoicing, and to meet our legal, professional, insurance and funding obligations. We only use it for the purpose we collected it for, for a directly related purpose you'd reasonably expect, where you've consented, or where the law requires or allows it.

Consent for sensitive information

Health and disability information is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. We collect it with your consent, given when you sign on this page. Where the client is a child, consent is given by a parent or guardian. You can withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, though this may affect our ability to provide the service.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your information. We share it only where it's needed to provide the service or where the law requires it: the people you've asked us to involve; the NDIS, your plan manager or support coordinator for funded services; other treating practitioners and referrers with your consent; our professional advisors, insurers and auditors; and government bodies or courts where required by law.

We also use trusted service providers to run the practice, including cloud file storage (Google), scheduling, accounting (Xero) and communications. They may access your information only to perform their service for us, and are required to protect it.

Keeping your information secure

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, including restricted access to files, secure passwords and two-factor authentication, and encryption in transit. No system is completely secure. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we'll notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

How long we keep it

We keep health records for as long as the law and our professional obligations require. For adult records this is generally at least seven years from the last occasion of service. For a child, we generally keep records until the person reaches 25 years of age, or longer where required. After that, we securely destroy or de-identify the information.

Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it's wrong, out of date or incomplete. Contact us using the details below and we'll respond within a reasonable time. In some cases the law allows us to refuse access; if we do, we'll explain why in writing.

Children's privacy

Where a client is a child, we deal with the child's parent or guardian, who gives consent and exercises these rights on the child's behalf, unless the child is mature enough to make their own decisions and it's appropriate for them to do so.

Making a complaint

If you're concerned about how we've handled your information, please contact us first. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992). Depending on where you live, you may also be able to complain to a state health complaints body, such as the Health Complaints Commissioner in Victoria.