Workplace rehabilitation providers specialise in delivery of a variety of services designed to help injured workers recover at or in their return to work. Workplace rehabilitation services are usually delivered at the workplace, in consultation with all parties and common involve:
- Workplace Assessments
- Functional Assessments
- Return to Work Plans (RTWP)
- Case Conferences
To find out what each of these are and why they are important.
Rehabilitation Services Explained – Within the rehabilitation world there are a number of tools that are used by rehab providers to facilitate safe and durable return to work. When these practices are implemented correctly by an accredited health professional it in turn helps to prevent future workplace injuries and reduce the amount of work related injuries and claims.
- Workplace Assessments – are used to demonstrate the visibility of the workplace for the doctors and all relevant stakeholders and help to identify and reduce barriers to return to work. Once these barriers are identified, strategies and timeframes for overcoming these are developed and subsequently actioned. The workplace assessment is done onsite and organised with the injured worker and employer beforehand to ensure all parties are in attendance and agree to what is documented. Preinjury duties and any suitable duties that can be found in the workplace are discussed and photographed for visibility within the report.
2. Functional Assessments – are a one off assessment that ascertains the functional capacity of an injured worker and assesses the key physical requirements of their job and the injured workers capability to perform these duties and related physical tasks. This is performed by an accredited exercise physiologist.
3. Return to Work Plans – are a document that stages return to work clearly for all parties and is consolidated with signatures obtain at a case conference whereby all parties agree on the injured workers capacity for employment. These stages of return to work include graded progressions of suitable duties which are in compliance with any restrictions put forward by the nominated treating doctor on the certificate of capacity (or WorkCover medical certificate).
4. Case Conferences – bring key stake holders together at one time to all mutually agree on goals and establish strategies to achieve these goals and overcome barriers that have been identified. Case conferences, whether they be with the nominated treating doctor or nominated treating specialist, are an effective way to progress a case and return to work timeframes.
Here at HEALTH ABILITY we achieve timely and durable return to work for injured workers via all the previously mentioned tools and reports which are visible to all stake holders. Our team consists of excellent rehab providers that have degrees in exercise physiology, occupational therapy and physiotherapy.