Start sooner
An initial Telehealth appointment is available within 7 business days, so distance does not have to mean months on a waitlist.
Current Telehealth availability
Discuss an initial appointment within 7 business days
An initial online consultation can often begin within 7 business days of accepting your referral, subject to current availability and clinical suitability. We confirm timing before booking. Further sessions and reports depend on your needs, urgency and whether an in-person component is clinically required.
Why Telehealth?
Access without asking rural families to carry the distance
People outside major centres can face limited clinician availability, extended waitlists and significant travel. Telehealth removes geography from many parts of occupational therapy, allowing support to begin sooner and continue between face-to-face visits.
Skip the long drive
Avoid hours on the road, fuel and accommodation costs, time away from work or school, and the fatigue that can follow travel.
Bring your team together
Family, carers, support coordinators and other people in your corner can join from different locations when you choose.
Work in your real environment
Using a phone or laptop, you can show the routines, rooms, tasks and barriers that matter in everyday life — not a clinic simulation.
An honest comparison
Telehealth or face-to-face?
The right answer is not the same for everyone. We choose the format around your goals, environment and the clinical information needed — not convenience alone.
Compare appointment formats in detail
What matters
Telehealth
Face-to-face
Getting started
TelehealthAn initial appointment can be available within 7 business days, subject to clinical suitability.
Face-to-faceTiming depends on local availability or the next scheduled regional visit.
Travel
TelehealthJoin from home without a long drive, travel fatigue or time away from your usual responsibilities.
Face-to-faceUseful when Derek needs to be physically present, but travel can add time and cost in rural areas.
Seeing daily life
TelehealthWalk through tasks and environments live, with a family member or support person helping with camera positioning if needed.
Face-to-faceAllows direct observation of movement, spaces and interactions from multiple angles.
Hands-on assessment
TelehealthWorks well for interviews, coaching, questionnaires, reviews and many observed activities.
Face-to-faceBetter when physical measurements, hands-on assessment, equipment trials or detailed environmental measurements are required.
Continuity
TelehealthKeeps therapy moving between regional visits and makes shorter, timely reviews practical.
Face-to-faceProvides valuable in-person contact at key points in an assessment or therapy plan.
Often, the strongest option is both. Begin online within days, use face-to-face visits for hands-on or environmental assessment, then continue by Telehealth without losing momentum.
What can happen online
More than a conversation on a screen
Telehealth can support initial consultations, ongoing therapy, parent and carer coaching, functional interviews, questionnaires, goal setting, case conferences, report reviews and many observed daily activities.
- Functional Capacity Assessment interviews and follow-ups
- Daily living, routine and participation coaching
- Paediatric sessions with parent or carer involvement
- Support-network meetings and collaborative planning
- Ongoing care after a regional face-to-face visit
When we will recommend face-to-face
Telehealth is not right for every task. Derek may recommend an in-person session when safety, accuracy or the quality of evidence depends on being physically present.
- Hands-on physical assessment is required
- Precise home measurements are needed
- Wheelchairs or other equipment must be trialled
- Internet access makes a useful session unrealistic
- You simply engage better with someone in the room
Fair questions
If you are unsure about Telehealth
Being hesitant is reasonable. These are the questions we would want answered before choosing online care too.
Further reading and Australian guidance
Our approach reflects Australian guidance that virtual care should be safe, clinically appropriate and chosen around the individual — not used as a blanket replacement for face-to-face care.