Perth's Ageing In Place, Accessibility Experts - Servicing all of Perth
Occupational therapy
People land on this page for two different reasons. Some have an occupational therapist report in hand and want to know whether we will work to it. Others have been told they need one and are wondering how long that is going to take.
Those are two different jobs, and most of the confusion in this area comes from treating them as one. An occupational therapist works with the person: how they move, what they can manage, what has changed since the stroke or the surgery or the last few winters.
We are builders. AccessAble has done accessibility work and nothing else for 10+ years, so our attention sits on the building instead: what is behind the shower wall, whether the drainage can move, how wide that hallway door really is once the frame is open.
Both are useful pieces of work. Neither one replaces the other. But only one of them has to happen before somebody can make your shower safe to stand in, and it is the building side.
So if you have a report, bring it and we will build to it. If you do not have one, call us anyway. We are not going to send you away to join a queue before we will look at your bathroom.
You should not have to wait for a report about you before somebody will come and take out a step.
The plain explanation
Plenty of people arrive here having been told to get an OT, with nobody explaining what that means. This is the short version, written by builders rather than clinicians, so treat it as plain language rather than a professional definition.
The qualification
Occupational therapy is a university degree, and practitioners in Australia are registered through the national scheme that also covers physiotherapists and nurses. It is a regulated profession with real training behind it.
That matters, because the word therapy makes people picture something informal. It is not. An occupational therapist is qualified to assess function and to make clinical recommendations about it.
The core work
The word occupation here means the things that occupy your time, not your job. Showering, dressing, cooking, getting to the letterbox, picking up a grandchild. The assessment works out which of those has become difficult and why.
Sometimes the answer is a technique or a piece of equipment. Sometimes it is a change to the building, which is where we come in.
The output
A report typically sets out what the person can and cannot manage, what would help, and often some specific measurements such as a preferred seat height or which side a rail should sit on.
A good report is genuinely useful to a builder. It removes guesswork about the details that are easy to get wrong and expensive to correct later.
Where you find them
If someone has been in hospital after a stroke, a fall or a joint replacement, they have probably already seen one on the ward. That is often where the phrase first comes up.
Outside hospital you can be referred by a GP or arrange a private assessment yourself. Both routes involve a wait, and the private one involves a fee.
The honest bit
There are not enough occupational therapists in Perth for the number of people who want to see one. That is a workforce shortage, not a criticism of anyone doing the work. People inside the profession say the same thing.
What it means for you is a queue. Depending on how you are referred and where you live, an assessment can take weeks and sometimes months, and the report gets written some time after the visit.
For a lot of households that timeline is fine. Nobody is in danger, the work is planned, and a few extra weeks change nothing.
Then there is the other kind of call: someone came home from hospital on Tuesday and cannot get into their own shower. Every week of waiting is a week of washing at the kitchen sink, or of a family member helping with something nobody wanted to need help with. In that situation the wait is the problem, and we can start without it.
Say so on the first call. We will tell you straight what can be finished by then and what cannot, instead of promising the lot and delivering half of it.
Usually the sensible answer is staged. Make the shower and the way in usable this week, then do the rest properly next month.
Call 1300 702 287Worth the wait
We are not against assessments. There are situations where one is the right call, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise just because we can work without it.
Some funding programs and insurers will only release money against a written recommendation from an allied health professional. If yours has asked, get the assessment. The wait is part of the price of the funding, and arguing with the paperwork rarely wins.
A recent stroke, a progressive condition, or a situation where someone's abilities are still changing month to month. In those cases you are not just asking what to build, you are asking what to build for in two years. That is an assessment question.
Hoists, wheelchairs, shower chairs and transfer aids are prescribed, and getting the prescription wrong is worse than useless. We build the room those things have to work in, and we are happy to say when something is outside what a builder should be deciding.
When one person thinks a rail will do and another wants the whole bathroom rebuilt, an independent professional opinion breaks the deadlock. It is worth the wait if the alternative is another six months of the same argument.
Send it through with your quote request, or hand it to us at the site visit. We read them properly, front to back, and we ask about anything in there we do not understand.
A good report saves everyone time. It usually gives us reach ranges, the transfer method, which side someone leads with, whether a seat needs to fold. Those are exactly the details that are cheap to get right at the start and expensive to correct afterwards.
Occasionally a recommendation cannot be built as written. It happens, and it is almost always the building rather than the advice: the drainage sits in the wrong place, or the wall the rail wants to go into has nothing solid behind it.
When that comes up we tell you why, and we offer the closest thing that works. We do not quietly substitute something and let you find out later.
After that it is the same job as any other. An accessible bathroom is measured, quoted at a fixed price, and built by our own team.
$149
We walk through your home, find the trip and fall risks, and give you a written list of what to fix first.
It is the right first step when you know something in the house should change but not what, and you want it written down rather than argued about.
To be clear about what it is not: this is a builder walking through your home and listing hazards. It is not a clinical assessment and it is not a substitute for one.
Book a safety auditThat is fine too, and it is what most people do. Tell us which room is causing trouble and we will come and measure it.
Get a QuoteQuestions
No. If you have one we will read it and build to it, but we do not require one and we will not send you off to get one first. We look at the house, tell you what we would change and what it costs, and book the work in from there.
An occupational therapist is an allied health professional who assesses how a person manages everyday tasks such as washing, dressing, cooking and getting around, then recommends changes that make those tasks possible again. That can mean equipment, a different technique, or changes to the building. They assess the person rather than the house.
Usually weeks rather than days, and sometimes longer. Demand is high and there are not enough occupational therapists to meet it, so waiting lists are normal, and the report itself takes further time to write once the visit has happened. Ask about the likely wait before you commit to that path.
Yes. Send it with your quote request or hand it to us at the site visit and we will work from it. If something in it cannot be built as written, usually because of drainage, wall construction or floor levels, we will tell you why and offer the closest thing that works.
When a funding program asks for one, or when the question is really about the person rather than the building. A progressive condition, a recent stroke, or a situation where abilities are still changing month to month all justify a proper assessment. Equipment like hoists and wheelchairs is their field, not ours.
No, and we would not claim it was. The audit is a builder walking through your home, finding the trip and fall risks, and writing you a list of what to fix first. It is about the building. An occupational therapist assesses the person, which is a different piece of work entirely.
Yes. That is what the site visit is for. We measure doorway clearances and floor levels, check what the walls are made of and where the drainage sits, and give you a written scope with a fixed price. None of that requires anyone to assess you first.
Call us with the discharge date on the first call. We will come and look, tell you honestly what can be finished by then and what cannot, and stage the work so the shower and the way in are usable first. The rest can be done properly a few weeks later.
Most people reading this page end up on one of these next. If you already know which room is the problem, start with that one.
Next step
Tell us which part of the house has become difficult and we will come and look at it. Call 1300 702 287 or send a quote request. Monday to Friday, 7:00am - 5:00pm.
Monday to Friday, 7:00am - 5:00pm. Based in Melville, working right across Perth.
