Parent Therapy Contract

Bookings

When you first book with us – through our website, by email, phone and/or face-to-face meeting – the booking won’t be confirmed until we send you an Appointment confirmation email, even if you’ve transferred money to us. We reserve the right to refuse bookings for any lawful reason.

We will usually email you your initial Appointment confirmation to the email address provided when you first contacted us by email or phone, within 48 hours of booking. If you have not received your appointment confirmation within 48 hours of booking, please check your spam or junk email folder or filter and, if it’s not there, then contact us. It is your responsibility to ensure that your email is set up to allow you to receive your email confirmation, and we cannot accept any liability for any consequences of your not doing so.

The fee for the initial Appointment and each subsequent Appointment for the calendar year is set out in our initial Appointment confirmation email and must be paid in full, and in the currency stated, by cash, debit card, credit card and/or bank transfer on or before the date of the relevant Appointment.

Policies and procedures

Session outline

• Our aim is for every child and student to have success in therapy. This requires the commitment of your child and your child’s clinician. Home practice will be recommended in most cases and is necessary as part of the therapy success.
• Speech Therapy services will be provided based on goals agreed upon by both parties in order to best serve your individual child. Goals can be established through one or more of the following means: Administered evaluations/reports, outside evaluations/reports, observations, and parent requests
• Sessions will be 45 minutes or 60 minutes. Session length will be tailored towards what would best serve the needs of your individual child.
• Please ensure you arrive on time for each Appointment. For the benefit of other clients
• Sessions are booked in for a term-by-term basis and as an agreement of therapy you agree to a regular weekly session (unless other arrangements are made) for a term at a time. Towards the end of the term, parents and the speech pathologist will make a decision about continuation of therapy. This ensures consistency in service delivery and success for the goals set out for the child.
• Speech Therapy services are provided in the clinic, school premises or alternative arrangements.

Payment Financial Policy

• Payment is expected in the time allocated on the invoice unless prior arrangements have been made. Please note that late payments may incur a late fee.
• Invoicing scheduling:
  – Invoices are sent out monthly or for a whole term. Invoices are due within 7 days from the invoice date.
• OR- Invoice payment can be committed to on a weekly basis – through a direct debit at the arrangement of the individual.

Payment

• Payment is to be completed via bank transfer to the Sydney Therapy & Co. account. The details of this will be provided to you on your invoices.
• The client is solely responsible for submitting all claims to their insurance company, should one wish to receive reimbursement for any services rendered by Sydney Therapy & Co, we do not participate with any insurance companies but will provide a receipt with diagnostic and treatment codes at the end of each month where services were needed.

Cancellation

• Due to a high demand for timeslots, we kindly request that you notify the therapist as soon as possible if your child cannot attend the Appointment. This must be done directly to the clinicians phone via phone call or SMS.
• All client cancellations require a minimum of 24-hour notice to cancel their booking for any reason including sickness, school excursion, holiday, etc. If the 24 hours notice is given, then Sydney Therapy & Co will rebook a session that is suitable for the client, within that school term or holidays.
• If you think your child not be well enough 24 hour prior to the session, it is best to call and let us know so we can make other arrangements for your child. If your child is sick or an emergency occurs, please call Sydney Therapy & Co as we are understanding of unexpected situations and can make arrangements to accommodate your situation. We know that things happen – cars break down, kids get sick, important travel commitments crop up at short notice. But “no shows” and late cancellations – particularly if they happen more than once – can interfere with our trust in each other and, over time, can affect the quality of care. We take pride in our work and don’t want this to happen.
• If your child’s session is at school and your child is absent, please notify your therapist as soon as possible the day before as per minimum requirement.

Fail to attend

• If you fail to attend, cancel or seek to reschedule an Appointment with less than 24 hours notice the full session fee will be charged at therapy rate for that time. It is at the clinician’s discretion to offer a make-up appointment/ time for the situation for the Appointment cancellation.
• If we need to cancel an Appointment for any reason, we may do so at any time before the Appointment is scheduled to begin. We do not expect this to happen except in exceptional circumstances, and we’ll refund any fees you’ve paid us for the Appointment, or offer you a choice of alternative dates for the Appointment.

Privacy

Vanessa Leaver and associated contractors need to collect information about you for the primary purpose of providing a quality service to you. In order to thoroughly assess, diagnose and provide therapy, we need to collect some personal information from you. This information will also be used for:

• The administrative purpose of running the practice;
• Use within the practice if passing your case to another speech pathologist within the practice for your ongoing management;
• Disclosure of information to your doctors, other health professionals or to teachers to facilitate communication and best possible care for you; &
• In the case of insurance or compensation claim it may be necessary to disclose and/or collect information that affects your return to work.

To ensure the process of quality treatment provision, information about your assessment results and progress may be given to relevant other service providers, who are involved in your management. These may include your Doctor, teachers, specialists, insurers, solicitors, employers or others, but only where it is considered to be of benefit to your progress.

Queries procedure

Our job as communicators is to provide this in all areas of our practice and it is important that you feel able to give open and continuous feedback. With your feedback we can resolve any issues that may arise and manage this, which in turn plays a vital role in helping us to improve our services.

As our client, you have a right to complain. If at any point in the process of service delivery you need to speak to use with regards to any aspect of care, please let me know immediately so we can work together to address the issue to your satisfaction. Your therapy is our priority and this will never be compromised because you exercise this right.

If we are unable to resolve the issue, you may have rights to lodge a complaint with Speech Pathology Australia or the Health Care Complaints Commission.