If the NDIA is serious about reform, it’s time to stop making decisions in a vacuum. Give occupational therapists a seat at the table, writes Helen Whait.

This week, occupational therapists from around Australia gathered in Adelaide for our annual conference.

It’s meant to be a chance to share ideas, reconnect and reflect on the work we do to keep people healthy, safe and out of hospital.

Instead, we’re arriving angry. Furious, actually.

The National Disability Insurance Agency’s Annual Pricing Review, handed down almost two weeks ago, confirmed that occupational therapy rates will remain frozen for the seventh year in a row. Travel funding has been slashed in half. Physios are copping a $10/hour cut.

Meanwhile, in the very same week, federal politicians quietly pocketed a 2.4 per cent pay rise – because, apparently, some workers deserve cost-of-living increases in line with inflation. The rest of us can just absorb it.

Occupational therapy is one of those quietly essential professions. We’re not glamorous, we don’t get headlines, and we definitely don’t make a fuss. We just turn up in homes, hospitals, schools, and aged care facilities and help people recover from trauma, illness, injury, and loss of function. We are the profession that gets people dressed, bathed, out of bed, and back into life.

We are........

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