Workplace Assessment
Assessment undertaken on site, where the activity is most relevant, with continual liaison and consultation with every party in the case.
Occupational therapy at work · Hunter Region NSW
Workplace occupational therapy across the Hunter Region
Hunter Health at Work provides assessment, management and prevention of acquired disability — at the workplace, in the home, and wherever the activity is most relevant.
Since 1985
In private practice in workplace injury and work resettlement
The practice
Practical, workable solutions — at work or at home
We are committed to providing practical and workable solutions to facilitate the return to economic occupation of injured people, and to sustain them safely at work, or productively and independently at home with dignity to the household group.
- Prompt referral is encouraged by employer, insurer, treating doctor, worker or legal representative.
- Strong emphasis on continual liaison and consultation with all relevant parties.
- Services undertaken at the home or workplace, wherever the activity is most relevant.
- Fairness demonstrated with objectivity in assessments of both the injured worker and the working circumstances.
- Recommendations and opinions developed with respect to evidence-based medicine.
What we do
Workplace safety and rehabilitation services
Six core services, delivered by occupational therapy, physiotherapy and podiatry consultants across the Hunter.
Medico-Legal Assessment
Reports for plaintiff or defendant referrals covering work injury, motor accident injury and public space injury.
Home Assessment
Review of the home environment and its specifications for self care, personal independence and safety.
Injury Prevention
Workplace and home injury prevention, including education and public speaking for employee groups.
Ergonomics
Fitting the task to the worker, both physically and psychologically, for wellbeing and productivity.
Injury Adjustment
Support through adjustment to disability, including redeployment counselling and pain management.
Specialty services
Where the work gets specific
Beyond assessment and rehabilitation, the practice takes on four specialist streams that referrers come to us for by name.
Medico-legal assessment
For plaintiff or defendant referrals arising from motor accidents, workplace injury or public liability circumstances.
Veterans’ Affairs
Assessment, management and monitoring for Veterans’ Affairs referrals.
Public speaking
On workplace injury prevention, home injury prevention and adjustment to disability.
Home design and planning
Home design and planning for disability issues, so people stay productive and independent at home.
How a referral runs
From referral to report
Reports are prepared in response to a specific request, to a timeframe agreed with the referrer.
Referral
An employer, insurer, treating doctor, worker or legal representative can refer. Prompt referral is encouraged.
Scope and timeframe
Reports are prepared in response to a specific request. The timeframe is discussed and agreed with the referrer.
Assessment
Undertaken at the home or the workplace — wherever the activity is most relevant.
Report and liaison
Findings are reported to the agreed timeframe, distributed on a need-to-know basis, with treating doctors kept informed.
Medico-legal
Reports for plaintiff and defendant referrals
Medico-legal assessment reports are prepared in response to a specific request, preferably as discussed with the client’s legal representative. They cover work injury, motor accident injury and public space injury.
- Assessment of pre-injury lifestyle
- Assessment of functional disability
- Assessment of impact on activities of daily living, including self care, employment and care of others
- Review and calculation of ongoing care issues
- Review and calculation of equipment for independence and safety at home or at work
Recorded outcomes
Measured, and published
The practice has published its own closure figures since the 1990s. These are the recorded results for the periods shown.
94%
Return to work, pre-injury employer
WorkCover closures, Jan–Oct 2000
85%
Return to work, new employer
WorkCover closures, Jan–Oct 2000
7.3
Average case duration, months
WorkCover closures, Feb 1999–Jan 2000
1997
Maitland Small Business Award finalist
Recognition for the practice
Each figure is dated to the closure period it was recorded in. See the full outcome tables
The team
Three consultants, one coordinated case
Expert and experienced consultants in occupational therapy, occupational health and safety assessment, injury prevention, treatment and counselling, and return to work services.
- Fiona Lyon — Occupational Therapist and Principal, B.App.Sc (OT)
- Judith Mitchell — Physiotherapist, Dip.Phyty.
- Maggie Bayley — Podiatrist, Dip. Ch (NSW)
Coverage
Workplace and home visits across the Hunter
Services are provided to clients in the Hunter Region of NSW, including Newcastle, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie and the Manning Valley, Vineyards and Coalfields areas.
Newcastle and Nelson Bay are 30 minutes away. Kurri Kurri is 30 minutes, Cessnock 40, Dungog 45. Scone, Denman, Gloucester and Taree are within an hour and a half.
Refer someone today
Prompt referral is encouraged — by the employer, the insurer, the treating doctor, the worker or a legal representative. Send the details through, or call the practice and talk it over first.