Policy and Procedures

Our goal is to provide high quality Speech Pathology services.  In order to do so, Beyond Speech has in place an appointment and cancellation policy.  The policy enables us to better utilise available appointments for our clients.

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We, like many professional services, have a cancellation policy that reflects the time that the clinician sets aside for your appointment. We also generally run waiting lists, so if we are given reasonable notice then we can offer another client a time that is suitable.

We offer consultations in our clinic, at local schools, at Healesville Community Link, at client homes and via Telehealth. These policies and procedures apply to all appointments, regardless of location or style of service delivery.

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Making an Appointment

Appointments can be made via phone or email.  You will receive email/text notifications for initial appointments and text/email confirmation for all subsequent appointments.  We require you confirm appointments in response to our reminders in a timely manner.  Regular clients are prioritised to keep the same weekly/fortnightly appointment slot wherever possible.

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Cancellation of an Appointment

If it is necessary to cancel your scheduled appointment we require that you call us 48 hours prior to your appointment time.  

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations with at least 48 hours notice will not incur a cancellation fee. 

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Cancellations with less than 48 hours of a session where a session can be rescheduled within the week, will not incur a cancellation fee.

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Cancellations with less than 48 hours notice where the appointment cannot be rescheduled will incur a fee of 100% of the session fee.

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Last minute cancellations can occur for many reasons including illness, an accident, power outage or extreme weather event. These situations are stressful and challenging for everyone involved and we understand that these instances are more often than not unavoidable. We do our best to be understanding and try to give our clients as many options to make use of the time set aside for their appointment as possible.

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An option we offer clients when they cannot attend their appointment is to have a Telehealth appointment instead or the option for the clinician to conduct some indirect therapy in their scheduled appointment time, the purpose of these tasks would be to continue to work towards the current treatment goals. This may include creating visuals, developing social stories, contacting team members (e.g. GP, OT, teacher), providing at home activities/resources, etc.

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Consistent with NDIS policy, in the event of a cancellation of an NDIS session with less than 48 hours notice, the NDIS cancellation fee will apply (100% of session fee, charged against your plan).

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Regular attendance at sessions means that we can continue to help our clients work towards their goals. When a client cancels regularly, even with notice, their progress is interrupted and our ability to help is reduced. We are in the business of helping, this is what we are all about, so when a client demonstrates a pattern of poor attendance or poor follow-through of recommendations, we reserve the right to offer that appointment to someone else on our waitlist who may be better placed at that time to receive our help.

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Provider Travel

Travel to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, kindergartens or client homes located outside the Healesville township, will incur a travel fee in addition to our therapy session fee. Beyond Speech charges for both time (labour cost) and km travelled when a member of our team travel to and from a client's school, home, kinder or childcare. You will be quoted the maximum possible fee that may apply however, wherever possible, we share the travel fee with any other clients seen at each visit.  We will discuss this with you at the time of your booking.

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Direct and Indirect Therapy

At Beyond Speech, we work hard to help our clients reach their goals.  We know that one of the best ways to achieve this is by providing education and support or collaborating closely with those in our clients' lives such as carers, teachers and other professionals. These activities enable us work as holistically as possible towards our clients' goals. We spend time planning and preparing for our sessions and we are obligated to ensure that all our activities are thoroughly documented. All of these tasks take time and our fees reflect the time that we spend both directly with the client and indirectly on tasks after the session.   

We always inform our clients about any tasks that need to be conducted toward client care including the associated fee and ensure we have approval before proceeding. 

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Session Frequency and Duration

At the commencement of your care with Beyond Speech, we will establish the most appropriate frequency and duration of sessions required to assist you to reach your goals. Our session duration includes both client-facing and non-client facing time such as report writing and planning. Your booking schedule will be provided as confirmation of your appointments and will contain information about the frequency and duration of your booked sessions. Please read this information carefully.

Therapy Assistant Program

Your Speech Pathologist will discuss with you whether our Therapy Assistant Program may assist you in achieving your goals. The role of a therapy assistant is to assist the client to practise their therapy targets between therapy sessions. Our Allied health assistants (Level 2) work under the delegation and supervision of the treating Speech Pathologist, where the Speech Pathologist is satisfied that the allied health assistant is able to work independently without direct supervision at all times. The allied health assistant is covered by the professional indemnity insurance of the supervising Speech Pathologist.

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