Functional Capacity Assessments in Mount Druitt
Mobile, evidence-based functional capacity assessments across Mount Druitt and the Blacktown area. Our AHPRA-registered occupational therapists come to you, and write the kind of evidence the NDIS actually asks for, whether you are applying for the first time or heading into a review.
When is a functional capacity assessment worth getting?
A functional capacity assessment (FCA) is an occupational therapy assessment of how you manage everyday activities, and what supports would help. It is often the piece of evidence that decides a first NDIS application, and it is where a lot of applications fall down.
- ✓ You are applying to the NDIS for the first time
- ✓ A previous application was knocked back and you are trying again
- ✓ You have a diagnosis letter but nothing that describes your daily life
- ✓ A plan review is coming up and the current plan no longer fits
- ✓ A decision is heading to external review at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART)
The areas an FCA looks at
We look at the areas the NDIS asks about directly, and we write down what actually happens on an ordinary day rather than what someone can manage once, with effort, on a good morning.
Looking after yourself
Washing, dressing, grooming and toileting, and how long each one really takes on an ordinary day.
Moving about
Getting around the house and yard, on and off furniture, managing steps, and how safe it is when nobody is home.
Running a household
Cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping and paying bills, including the jobs somebody else has quietly taken over.
Getting out
Transport, appointments, shopping and keeping up with the things you used to do.
Memory and organising
Remembering, concentrating, planning ahead and handling paperwork, which is often where things first slip.
Speaking up and staying safe
Making yourself understood, dealing with unfamiliar people, and staying safe at home and out.
What kinds of situations we assess
The scheme decides on functional impact, not on a diagnosis, so there is no list you have to be on. These are simply the situations we are asked about most often around Mount Druitt and Blacktown.
Conditions affecting the body
- Brain injury and stroke
- Spinal injury and mobility conditions
- Cerebral palsy and other lifelong physical conditions
- Progressive conditions such as MS and Parkinson’s
- Long-term pain and fatigue that limits daily activity
- Physical change following serious illness or a long hospital stay
Conditions affecting thinking and learning
- Autism
- Intellectual disability
- ADHD and difficulty organising a day
- Learning difficulties affecting independence
- Memory and thinking changes, including dementia
- Cognitive difficulty after an injury
Mental health and psychosocial disability
- Schizophrenia and psychotic conditions
- Bipolar disorder
- Long-term depression and anxiety that stops daily activity
- Trauma-related conditions
- Difficulty leaving home, managing routine or coping with people
- Conditions where the diagnosis is settled but nobody has documented the daily impact
More than one thing at once
- A physical condition alongside a mental health condition
- Intellectual disability with a psychosocial condition
- Vision, hearing or communication difficulty alongside anything above
- Complex health needs with several services already involved
- Situations where previous reports have contradicted each other
Not sure whether your situation fits? Call us. We would rather spend ten minutes telling you an FCA is not what you need than take a booking that does not help you.
How we gather evidence that stands up
A diagnosis letter says what a condition is. It does not say what a person can and cannot do, and that is the gap most applications fall into. We gather that evidence properly.
What you actually want to change
We ask what you are trying to do differently, in your words. A goal you recognise is far more useful to assess against than a category.
At home, on an ordinary day
We assess in the house, across the routines that are genuinely hard. A clinic room tells you how somebody copes in a clinic room, on their best behaviour.
Beyond the front gate
Where it matters we look at getting to the shops, to appointments and onto transport, because a difficulty that only appears outside the house is still a difficulty.
The family who took over quietly
With your consent we speak with the people around you. Relatives routinely describe years of daily help as nothing much, and that help is exactly what an application needs to record.
The letters you already have
We read the specialist letters, GP notes and any earlier reports, so we can point to where they stop short of what the scheme is asking.
Recognised measurement
Where appropriate we use validated tools such as the WHODAS 2.0 and the Lawton IADL Scale, so the findings are measured rather than felt.
Written for the decision-maker
It all goes into one report, written so somebody who has never met you can follow the line from condition to daily impact to the support requested.
Read our full assessment methodology, including the evidence standard every recommendation is written to.
What an application has to prove, and why it differs by disability
An access request turns on functional impact, and the evidence that demonstrates it looks completely different depending on the kind of disability involved. This is where most applications come unstuck.
Measure it, and measure it twice
This is the most straightforward to evidence, because it can be observed and recorded directly: what a person can lift, how far they can walk, whether they can get off the toilet unaided, how long a shower takes.
The trap is assessing once. Fatigue and pain build across a day and across a week, so a single morning appointment records the best version of somebody. The evidence needs to show the range, not the peak.
We also record what the home is doing to help or hinder, because a delegate reading the file cannot see the step at the back door unless somebody wrote it down.
Prompted performance is not independence
The most common failure in an application is a report saying a person managed a task during the assessment. They may well have. The question the scheme is asking is whether it happens without someone there.
Independence in daily life means starting a task unprompted, getting the steps in order, noticing a mistake and correcting it, and repeating it tomorrow. An assessment that only records whether a task can be completed under supervision answers a different question entirely.
So the evidence has to come from people who are present through an ordinary week, and from what has stopped happening, not only from what can be demonstrated.
Document the bad weeks, not the good day
This is where applications are most often under-evidenced, and the reason is structural: assessments happen on days people are well enough to attend, so the record fills up with the person’s better days.
The functional impact is in the variability. Weeks where nothing gets done, mail goes unopened, appointments are missed, meals stop, the house is not managed. A report that does not describe those weeks describes somebody who appears to be coping.
We ask directly about the pattern, and with consent we ask the people around the person, who usually give a very different and more accurate account than the person themselves will.
In most cases more than one of these is in play at the same time, and that is precisely why a single appointment is not enough. Assessing across more than one session, in the home and out in the community, with input from the people who are actually there and a review of what has already been written, is how you build a picture that survives a close read. It is more work than a one-hour visit. It is also the difference between an application that gets approved and one that gets asked for more evidence.
Why people in Mount Druitt come to us
Plenty of providers cover this area on paper. These are the questions worth asking before you commit.
More than one source
We do not build a report on a single hour. We combine home observation, the accounts of people around you and the existing clinical record.
Local to Mount Druitt
We work across Mount Druitt, Whalan, Tregear, Lethbridge Park, Bidwill, Shalvey, Hebersham, Emerton, Rooty Hill, St Marys and Minchinbury, and we come to you.
Written for the people who decide
Plain language, tied to the functional impact the scheme asks about, usually within 2 to 3 weeks depending on complexity.
Straight answers, including no
If an assessment is unlikely to help, or a different report is the one you need, we will say so before you commit. People here have had enough of being passed around.
First-timers as well as participants
A good share of our work here is evidence for people not yet on the scheme, including reapplications after a knock-back.
We keep everyone informed
With your consent we stay in contact with your GP, support coordinator and anyone else already involved.
What is in the report you get
For a first application, the report is written so somebody at the NDIA who has never met you can follow the link from your condition, to what it stops you doing, to the support being asked for.
Your circumstances
A plain account of your situation and background, in language a decision-maker can follow.
What the tools measured
The results from the assessments used, and what those numbers mean in ordinary terms.
Rated area by area
Each part of daily life rated separately, rather than reduced to one overall judgement.
What gets in the way
The obstacles you meet day to day, and what could go wrong if nothing changes.
Informal support already provided
The help family are already giving, documented, because it is usually invisible and it changes the picture.
Functional impact, evidenced
Findings tied to the functional impact the scheme asks about, ready for an access request or a review.
What the report is used for
Most people we see in Mount Druitt are at one of two points: getting onto the scheme, or trying to keep supports at a review. The report does different work in each.
- ✓ Access requests: documents functional impact, which is what the decision actually turns on
- ✓ Reapplying after a knock-back: supplies the evidence a diagnosis letter never contained
- ✓ Plan reviews: justifies the supports being asked for, one by one
- ✓ External review (ART): gives the Administrative Review Tribunal independent evidence to weigh
- ✓ Making informal care visible: records the help family already provide, which is routinely undercounted
What the NDIS actually wants to see in an access request
Most first applications that fail do not fail because the person is ineligible. They fail because the paperwork answered the wrong question.
An access request is not decided on your diagnosis. It is decided on functional impact, meaning what your condition stops you doing across communication, social interaction, learning, mobility, self-care and self-management. A specialist letter is usually written to explain a condition to another clinician. It is a good letter. It is answering a different question.
That is the gap an FCA fills. It records what happens on an ordinary day: how long a shower takes, whether the stove is still used, who opens the mail, what happens when something goes wrong. Concrete, observed, dated, and set against recognised assessment tools so it is not one person’s impression.
It also captures the help already being given. In most households somebody, usually a family member, has gradually absorbed the shopping, the cooking and the appointments without ever calling it care. When that is left out, an application describes someone coping fine, and the decision follows the description. Writing it down is not exaggeration, it is accuracy.
How an assessment runs, start to finish
A worked example, from a knocked-back application to a finished report.
A first-time NDIS access request, Mount Druitt
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 a woman in Mount Druitt contacting us directly after her NDIS access request has been knocked back. She has a diagnosis and a supportive GP, but the application was submitted with a specialist letter and little else. The letter describes her condition thoroughly and says almost nothing about her daily life, which is what the decision actually turns on.
What we would do
We would start by explaining what the evidence needs to show, because often nobody has. Then we would assess at home across two visits, at different times of day, watching what really happens rather than asking whether she can manage. In this pattern somebody can shower, but it takes most of the morning and they need to rest afterwards. They can cook, but have stopped using the stove after a burn. The mail has not been opened in weeks.
With consent we would speak with a family member, who has often quietly taken over shopping, appointments and most of the cooking across a year or two without ever thinking of it as care. We would review the specialist letters and the GP notes and use the WHODAS 2.0 and the Lawton IADL Scale so that what we observe sits against recognised measures rather than reading as an opinion.
What the report would set out
Task by task, what she can do alone, what she can do only with help, and what has stopped altogether, connecting each one to the functional impact the scheme asks about. It would also document the informal support a family member is providing, which is exactly what tends to be invisible in a first application and materially understates how much help is actually needed.
What it costs and who pays
A functional capacity assessment in Mount Druitt 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 Mount Druitt and Western Sydney
We are a mobile service and come to you throughout Mount Druitt (2770) and the surrounding suburbs, including Whalan, Tregear, Lethbridge Park, Bidwill, Blackett, Shalvey, Willmot, Hebersham, Emerton, Rooty Hill, St Marys and Minchinbury.
Functional capacity assessments in Mount Druitt: your questions
Do you offer NDIS occupational therapy in Mount Druitt?
I am not on the NDIS yet. Can you still assess me?
My application was rejected. Is it worth trying again?
Do I need a referral to book?
Which suburbs around Mount Druitt do you cover?
How long will it take to get the report?
Who pays for the assessment if I am not on the NDIS?
Do you work with children too?
Request a functional capacity assessment in Mount Druitt
Send a referral or an enquiry below, or call 1300 316 664. You do not need a referral, and you do not need to be on the NDIS to ask.
Book a home visit in Mount Druitt
Talk to our mobile OT team about an assessment in Mount Druitt. No obligation, and we will tell you if you do not need one.
Make a referral or call 1300 316 664