Functional Capacity Assessments in Bankstown
Mobile, evidence-based functional capacity assessments for NDIS participants and older adults across Bankstown and the Canterbury-Bankstown area. Our AHPRA-registered occupational therapists come to you and build a thorough, well-evidenced picture of how you manage at home.
Is a functional capacity assessment the right report for you?
A functional capacity assessment (FCA) is an occupational therapy assessment of how you manage everyday activities, and the supports that would help you stay independent. In Bankstown we assess in your own home, which matters when the barrier is the house itself rather than the person.
- ✓ You are applying to the NDIS, or your plan is up for review
- ✓ Your condition or capacity has changed since the current plan was written
- ✓ Your support coordinator, GP, package provider or specialist has asked for one
- ✓ You are seeking equipment, home modifications, therapy or support worker hours
- ✓ A decision is going to external review at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) and needs independent backing
What we assess, and what we look for in the home
We assess the areas of daily life that determine whether staying at home is safe and sustainable, and we record where a change to the environment would do more than a change to the person.
Washing and dressing
Showering, dressing, grooming and toileting, and whether the bathroom itself has become part of the problem.
Mobility, transfers and falls
Walking, standing, getting on and off a bed, chair or toilet, managing steps, and falls risk.
Cooking, cleaning and shopping
The household tasks, and which of them have quietly been handed to someone else.
Getting out and about
Driving or public transport, getting to appointments, and how far you can go before you need to rest.
Memory and decision-making
Memory, attention, planning and decision-making, including on the days when fatigue is at its worst.
Communication and safety at home
Communication, and safety alone at home, including what would happen after a fall with nobody there.
Why a single visit is not enough
A one-off visit can catch someone on a good day. We build evidence from several angles so the report describes the ordinary week, including the parts that are getting harder.
What you want to keep doing
We start with what matters to you, which is often staying in your own home and holding onto a specific task, rather than an abstract goal about independence.
In the house itself
We assess in your home, because the building is part of the answer. A step at the back door, a low toilet, a hallway that is too narrow for a walker, an internal stair, all of it gets recorded.
Getting out and about
Where it is relevant we look at how you manage beyond the home, getting to the car, to appointments and to the shops, and how far that is realistic on a bad day rather than a good one.
The people who see the hard days
With your consent we speak with family, carers and support workers. People routinely understate the help they receive after hours, and a partner will often describe a very different evening.
The clinical history
We read the specialist letters, discharge summaries and previous allied health reports, so a progressive condition is understood as a direction of travel rather than a single point in time.
Objective measures
Where appropriate we use validated tools such as the WHODAS 2.0, the COPM and the Lawton IADL Scale, so a change since the last plan can be shown as a measure rather than an assertion.
Brought together into one report
The observations, the accounts and the scores are compiled into a single report that separates what the person needs from what the house needs.
Read our full assessment methodology, including the evidence standard every recommendation is written to.
Why Bankstown families and coordinators refer to us
Canterbury-Bankstown is well served for providers. These are the questions worth asking before you pick one.
Several sources, one picture
We do not build a plan on one hour. We combine home observation, the accounts of the people around you and the existing clinical record, and we assess at more than one time of day where fatigue is involved.
Local to Bankstown
We work across Bankstown, Yagoona, Punchbowl, Greenacre, Condell Park, Padstow, Revesby and the wider Canterbury-Bankstown area, and we come to you.
Clear reports, plain reasoning
Written against the reasonable and necessary criteria, with the reasoning on the page, usually within 2 to 3 weeks depending on complexity.
Older adults as well as NDIS participants
Not every assessment here is an NDIS one. We also assess older adults funded through a Home Care Package, through CHSP, or privately, and we will tell you plainly which pathway looks like the right fit.
Every age group
Our AHPRA-registered occupational therapists work from paediatric through to older-adult assessments.
Coordinated with your team
With your consent we keep your support coordinator, GP, package provider and treating team informed as the assessment progresses.
What is in the report you receive
Where the home itself is the barrier, the report sets out the specific modification or piece of equipment, what problem it solves and why a cheaper option was or was not enough.
Your situation and history
A clear account of where things stand, including how they have changed over the past year.
Standardised measures
Results from any tools used, with an explanation of what each score does and does not tell you.
Domain-by-domain ratings
Each assessed area rated separately, rather than collapsed into one overall level of function.
Risks in the home
The barriers and risks, separated into what is the person, what is the condition and what is the house.
Equipment, modifications and supports
Recommendations, with equipment and home modification options set out alongside support hours.
Reasonable and necessary evidence
Findings written against the criteria, so the reasoning behind each request is visible.
How the report supports your plan or your package
An FCA is often the piece of evidence that decides whether a support is funded. These are the situations where it does the heavy lifting.
- ✓ Access requests: shows how your condition affects everyday functioning, with specifics
- ✓ Plan reviews: evidences what has changed, which matters most with a progressive condition
- ✓ External review (ART): supplies the Administrative Review Tribunal with evidence gathered independently of the original decision
- ✓ Equipment and modifications: sets out what the home needs, and why a simpler option would not be enough
- ✓ Staying at home safely: identifies the risks that decide whether living at home stays realistic
Sometimes the problem is the house, not the person
A lot of what looks like lost independence is a step, a bathroom layout or a tap that no longer suits the person using it.
Assessing in your own home means we see the thing that is actually causing the difficulty. A person who cannot shower safely may be perfectly capable of showering, in a bathroom with a level entry and something to hold. That distinction changes what should be funded: one answer is support hours every day for years, the other is a rail and a hand-held shower.
So we record the environment as carefully as the person. The step at the back door, the height of the toilet, the width of the hallway when a walker is in it, whether the laundry is down an external stair. We note what is already being worked around, because people adapt without noticing and then describe themselves as managing fine.
Where a modification or a piece of equipment is the right answer, the report says so and explains the reasoning. Depending on what is recommended, a separate assistive technology or home modification assessment may also be required, and we will tell you that before you spend money on the wrong report.
An assessment from referral through to report
A worked example of how the assessment is actually built.
Supporting an adult with multiple sclerosis, Bankstown
This is a worked example, written to show how we would approach an assessment of this kind. It does not describe a real person or a real assessment. Funding outcomes depend on individual circumstances and are decided by the funder.
The situation
Consider an adult in Bankstown living with multiple sclerosis in a single-storey home. Fatigue and reduced hand function have increased over the past year, and the existing plan was written before that change. The person is managing, but at a cost that is no longer sustainable.
What we would do
We would begin with what matters to them, which is often staying in their own home and continuing to cook for their family. We would assess in the home and watch the tasks that have become hardest: showering and transferring off a low toilet, carrying laundry down a step to the yard, and preparing a meal. We would assess at two points in the day, morning and late afternoon, because with fatigue the same task can be independent at nine and unsafe at four.
With consent we would speak with a partner about the help being given after hours, which the person themselves tends to understate. We would review the neurologist’s letter and any previous physiotherapy report to establish the trajectory of the condition, and use the WHODAS 2.0, the COPM and the Lawton IADL Scale so the change since the last plan can be shown as a measure rather than an assertion.
What the report would set out
What would be solved by equipment and minor home modification, separated clearly from what genuinely needs support-worker hours, with the reasoning for each. It would also document the fatigue pattern, so a reader can understand why a person who appears independent in the morning may not be safe alone in the evening.
Cost and funding pathways
A functional capacity assessment in Bankstown is charged by the hour, at the NDIS occupational therapy price of $193.99 per hour in 2026-27, based on the time the assessment and report take. See how OT is priced for a full breakdown.
| Funding type | What it means |
|---|---|
| NDIS – plan-managed | Your plan manager pays our invoices from your plan. The most common option. |
| NDIS – self-managed | You manage and pay invoices directly from your plan funding. |
| Home Care Package (Levels 1–4) | Occupational therapy for older adults, funded through your package provider. |
| CHSP | Entry-level aged care support, subject to eligibility. |
| Medicare | Up to five allied health sessions a year with a GP care plan (a gap may apply). |
| Private | Pay directly, no referral required. |
For NDIS participants, an FCA is generally funded from the Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living budget, depending on your plan. Funding is not guaranteed, so check with your support coordinator or planner.
Functional capacity assessments across Bankstown and South West Sydney
We are a mobile service and come to you throughout Bankstown (2200) and the surrounding suburbs, including Yagoona, Punchbowl, Greenacre, Condell Park, Padstow, Revesby, Chester Hill, Bass Hill, Lakemba and Wiley Park.
Functional capacity assessments in Bankstown: your questions
Do you offer NDIS occupational therapy in Bankstown?
Can you complete a functional capacity assessment in Bankstown?
Can an FCA cover equipment and home modifications?
I am not on the NDIS. Can you still assess me?
Which suburbs around Bankstown do you cover?
How long does the assessment take, and when will the report arrive?
Who pays for the assessment?
Do you assess older adults, or only NDIS participants?
Request a functional capacity assessment in Bankstown
Send a referral or an enquiry below, or call 1300 316 664. If you are not sure which assessment you need, ask us before you book.
Book a home visit in Bankstown
Talk to our mobile OT team about an assessment in Bankstown. No obligation, and we will tell you if you do not need one.
Make a referral or call 1300 316 664