Services and service regions

 Daily function

Assessment and intervention for:

• Activities of daily living re-training – remedial, compensatory or with assistive devices
• Cognition – assessment and rehabilitation
• Upper limb re-training

We strive to maximise our client’s potential to participate in their everyday activities, assist them to regain independence and restore quality of life.

EHTS provides Occupational Therapy services to clients over the age of 65 living in the community including:

• Recipients of Department of Veteran’s Affairs entitlements
• Clients accessing MyAgedCare services

Services offered include:

• Falls prevention
• Home modifications
• Equipment and assistive device prescription
• Driver screening and/or comprehensive driving assessment for clients over the age of 75 who require yearly medicals
• Oedema management
• Compensatory techniques or methods for completing activities of daily living

Driving is an important activity for many people.  The ability to drive and the freedom that comes with this, is often taken for granted.  Injury, disability or illness, can affect a person’s ability to drive, which can have significant impacts on their independence.

Enhanced Health Therapy Services offer occupational therapy driving assessments and training/rehabilitation services to support people to commence or return to driving.

An Occupational therapy driving assessment (OTDA) provides comprehensive findings and advice for drivers/potential drivers and medical specialists in order to guide decision making regarding a person’s suitability to commence or return to driving suitability, training/re-training programs and prescription of vehicle modifications for drivers.

An occupational therapy driving assessment is not the same as a Department of Transport licencing test.  The purpose of the occupational therapy driving assessment is to determine if a person’s injury, disability or illness impacts on their ability to drive safely.

When might an occupational therapy driving assessment be needed?

Assessments may be conducted for:

• Fitness to drive – drivers with medical or age-related changes.
• Novice drivers – to determine driving readiness.
• Experienced drivers with acquired medical conditions or disabilities – to determine the impact on driving performance and the possible need for modified driving controls.
• Work related drivers – to determine the impact of injury or chronic pain conditions including ergonomic evaluation.
• Commercial vehicle drivers – to determine medical capacity to drive heavy vehicles or workplace plant equipment.

Who might need an occupational therapy driving assessment?

Common injuries and disabilities often requiring assessment and advice includes, but not limited to:

• Neurological conditions including multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury and spina bifida.
• Orthopaedic injuries such as amputations, hand and shoulder injuries, back injuries.
• Physical impairments such as cerebral palsy, congenital deformities.

• Older clients with general frailty/ageing, physical/functional problems, cognitive decline, dementia
• Learner drivers with Autism/Asperger’s, anxiety, intellectual impairment.

What is the assessment process?

The occupational therapy driving assessment consists of two parts:

1. “Off-road” or an office based assessment – this part of assessment involves reviewing your medical history and driving history as well as testing the individual components or skills required for driving to determine if there may be any limitations that may impact on being able to safely drive.
2. “On-road” assessment – this part of the assessment consists of the practical component of driving.  It is conducted with the occupational therapy driving assessor and a specialised driving instructor.  The “on-road” assessment is used to determine if any concerns noted during the “off-road” assessment indeed impact on driving performance and safety.

What could the assessment outcomes be?

The outcomes of the assessment may include any of the following:

• Able to drive with no restrictions or conditions
• Able to drive with restrictions and/or conditions
• Engagement in a remedial driving program is recommended with re-assessment
• Recommendation to cancel licence

Report

Following assessment, a report is prepared and provided to your GP and/or medical specialist and in some cases, to the Medical Reporting Unit of Transport and Main Roads, in the instance where licence cancellation is recommended.

Your GP and/or medical specialist is ultimately responsible for the decision for you to commence or return to driving.

Price

Pricing of an occupational therapy driving assessment is dependent on the type of driving assessment service and why it is required.  Once we have discussed your individual needs, we are able to provide a quote for services.

Why us?

The thought of having a driving assessment can be overwhelming.  You may have lots of questions and in many cases, we find people are incredibly nervous.  We have occupational therapy driving assessors who have been providing assessments and advice on driving for over 15 years.  This type of experience can help you feel at ease and know you are in good hands.  Our goal is to get or keep people driving, however, we do need to make sure that everyone who gets behind the wheel is safe.

BOOK NOW

Call now on (07) 4724 0953 for more information or to book your assessment today.

A medico-legal assessment and report may be required for cases or claims with:

• Workers’ Compensation
• Compulsory Third Party insurers
• Public liability and
• Medical/Professional negligence

The medico-legal assessment is a thorough assessment that determines a client’s level of function post-injury.  It takes into consideration both personal and domestic activities of daily living and how these have been impacted by injury and/or loss.

A comprehensive report can then be supplied providing information and recommendations on:

• Pre-injury and current functional status
• Pre-injury occupational status (personal, domestic and community)
• Functional capacity
• Home environment including environmental barriers to independent function
• Equipment, assistive devices and/or technology
• Care needs – personal, domestic and therapy

EHTS is able to provide meticulous assessment and reports for all medico-legal purposes, prepared in accordance with the Expert Witness Code of Conduct.