Our Processes | LS Health Services

Our Processes

Our Waitlist Process

Our practice keeps a waitlist for all services offered at our clinic. This is to ensure that our clinicians do not become overbooked, and that our clients are able to be booked in for regular ongoing appointments rather than just sporadic appointments here and there. We do this by taking some details before you go on our waitlist to make sure we are able to offer the services you are seeking. This avoids clients sitting on the waitlist for long periods of time only to find out at their appointment that we do not provide the services they are seeking.

If we are able to provide the services you are seeking, then you will be placed on our waitlist and called or emailed to offer you services as regular appointment spots become available. Clients who have more flexibility with times they are able to attend the clinic may receive services faster than clients who are waiting for particular days/times.

If we are not able to provide the services you are seeking, then our admin or clinical team will call or email you to help provide you with some alternative clinics or services who may be able to meet your needs. While we understand that many people prefer local services, there are some specialised services that we are unable to provide and may require clients to travel to specialist clinics closer to Brisbane.

PLEASE NOTE: Below are the time frames for our waitlists.

Occupational Therapy:

Our clinic has been at capacity for some time now due to the national allied health shortages and our waitlist has been progressing much slower than we had hoped. In addition to this, recent staff changes will now also lead to even longer than anticipated wait times.

At this point in time, we do not expect to be able to offer services for the majority of our waitlist before 2025.

If you would like to be added to our waitlist, please call our admin team to request an intake form.

Speech Pathology:

At this point in time, we do not expect to be able to offer services for the majority of our waitlist before 2025. However,

if you only require an assessment or very short term support, please call to discuss suitability.

Our Intake Process

When you ask to be placed on our waitlist, you will be sent a digital intake form by email. Once you return these forms, one of our clinicians will review the information you provide to ensure we are able to provide the services you are seeking.

If you do not provide enough information, you may be called and asked to provide additional details, or emailed a new form with a request to provide more detailed information.

If you do not return the form, we cannot place you on the waitlist. Our forms have a 7-day expiry period, after which you will be notified that we were unable to place you on the waitlist. If this occurs, you may call and request a new form in order to be placed back on the waitlist.

Our Initial Assessment Consults

Before you commence therapy for any services, you must attend an initial assessment consultation.

Children: This includes an initial 'parent only' consultation in person, via zoom or on the phone. During this consultation, your clinician will complete an interview with the primary carer to gather as much background information as possible, determine the areas of concern to be addressed, and what the functional goals for the client are. At this stage, your clinician will have an idea of how many assessment sessions may be required and will be able to provide a rough quote for the sessions and report writing. Following this, you will bring your child in for their face to face assessment session(s). Formal or informal assessments may be used, and the number of assessment sessions required is variable. A primary caregiver must be present for initial consultations and most ongoing interventions.

Adults: An initial phone consultation may be requested, but in most cases, you will attend in person, and complete a case history, determine areas of concern and goals you would like to target. Your clinician will be able to tell you if you require additional assessment sessions, ongoing intervention, to go on review for monitoring.

During these initial sessions, your clinician may also discuss with you what discharge from speech therapy will look like. Therapy should not be forever, and although your needs may change over time, you or your child should definitely be taking extended breaks from intervention to consolidate skills and focus on other life building skills. Please note that one of the reasons we book on a term to term basis, is to allow clients and families to take breaks, while having the knowledge that we will be able to bring them back for further blocks of therapy as needed.

Parent only consultations are invoiced separately. Written report writing is invoiced at the time of your first face to face appointment so that your clinician can review the results of any assessment and provide these to you in written form, as well as providing a written summary of the recommendations for ongoing supports. Please note that rather than charging everyone the same fee, we have a flexible billing system, where we charge for the time used. This means that we will discuss with you and maintain your expectations to the best of our ability and prepare you for any expected changes to costs.

Once your initial assessment consultation is complete, your clinician will discuss the best option for ongoing support for you. This may include starting therapy to target your goals, completing therapy with one of our supervised Allied Health Assistants if suitable, referral to other services for additional/alternative supports (eg, psychology, physio), or referral to a more specialised service (eg, LifeTec for specialist AAC devices).

Our Therapy Consultations

Our standard therapy consultations are 70 minutes in total. This includes 50 minutes of time in the consult room with your clinician, and an additional 20 minutes of time before and after your session finishes for your clinician to prepare the materials for your session, update your therapy plan, clean any resources used and keep records of your session.

We book therapy blocks on a term-by-term basis. Therapy is booked for the next term during the school holidays and follows 12-week blocks (10 weeks of term and 2 weeks of the school holidays). Towards the end of each term block, your clinician will review your therapy progress and discuss ongoing recommendations. This can include readiness for discharge from service, need to transition to different services, taking a break from therapy, or continuing for another term block. We do understand that this approach does not work for everyone, however since implementing it we have seen significant benefits overall to client outcomes and maintaining interest for longer term clients.

Our Services