The allied health multidisciplinary team (MDT) Who’s who in the zoo?

When you first access the NDIS, it can be extremely overwhelming with so many new services coming on board. Here is a bit of a breakdown of who’s who in the multidisciplinary team to help you direct your questions.

Occupational Therapy (OT)

Occupational Therapists work to make things people do every day a little easier. They will work with you to identify tasks that could be made safer and encourage greater active participation. This will help to empower people over their own lives, develop greater social connections, and encourage greater community participation.

Physiotherapy (PT)

Physiotherapists work with individuals on their personal goals to make movement and access more achievable. Levaro has a team of physiotherapists who specialise in neurological conditions, meaning our symptoms-focused treatment can include treatment of muscle weakness and loss of function, coordination and balance difficulties, uncontrolled muscle spasms, and tremors.

Speech Pathology (SP)

Contrary to popular belief, Speech Pathologists are not only for children who have difficulty pronouncing words; they play a vital role in the neurological multidisciplinary team supporting adults. Speech Pathologists complete voice training and speech improvement, accent modification, and stuttering management. They also treat dysphagia (swallowing difficulties), dyspraxia (incoordination of the mouth), and dysarthria (unclear speech caused by weakened muscles).

Exercise Physiology (EP)

Exercise Physiologists work closely with the rest of the MDT to promote health and wellness, mobility, function, prevention of condition progression, community access, and life goals. They do this through targeted supervised exercise programs that accommodate strength, flexibility, balance, and fatigue training and education.

Orthotist / Prosthetist

Orthotists assess the need for intervention around the foot and ankle. They are responsible for prescribing and producing orthotics ankle-foot-orthoses (AFOs) and knee-ankle-foot-orthoses (KAFOs), which assist in stabilising these joints for improved biomechanics in transfers or walking.

Prosthetists are responsible for making limbs for patients post-amputation. They work closely with the client to ensure optimum comfort and allow for the most effective mechanical patterning to return to activities of enjoyment.

Psychology

Psychologists work with clients to identify areas of concern and work towards producing management strategies that give individuals power and control over their well-being. They work closely with the rest of the team to ensure that an individual’s needs are met most appropriately and in the best way possible.

Dietician

The dietician will work closely with the speech pathologist about the foods most appropriate for health and swallowing. They will prescribe meal plans where appropriate and discuss with the client what is the best strategy moving forward, which limits restrictions on diet while ensuring health and safety.

Community nurse / Continence nurse

Your community nurse will come to assess any wounds, assist with medication management, look at stomas and catheters, discuss respiratory care, and provide general education and health promotion.

A continence nurse is a community nurse who specialises in urinary and bowel care. They can assess your personal needs and assist in prescribing the most appropriate continence aids to support you to feel confident in day-to-day life.

Positive Behavioural Support Practitioner (PBSP)

Many allied health practitioners can do extra training to become a PBSP. These team members assess behaviours of concern and provide outlines on how to support individuals best when they have behaviours through a written document called a Behaviour Support Plan.

The Levaro Multidisciplinary team (MDT) works hard to communicate with the other team members; within Levaro or other allied healthcare providers, we value collaboration and know that good health outcomes can be achieved with comprehensive support and excellent communication.

If you have further questions about who you should be a part of your Multidisciplinary team ask your treating therapist, or you can call

the Levaro team, who can point you in the right direction (02) 4001 0525