What your physio's NDIS report should say, and when to ask for it

Ask six to eight weeks before the reassessment date, and ask for something specific rather than “a report”. The NDIS wantsrecent evidence, “usually… within 4 months of the date you ask us to reassess your plan”, so a report written from last year’s measurements does not count. A strong therapy report is the difference between funding that continues and funding that gets questioned, and it is largely decided by what the physiotherapist was asked to write.

Most of the guidance on this is written for the physiotherapist. This is the version for the person whose plan it is.

What a strong report contains

• Function, not diagnosis.What the person can and cannot do today, described concretely. “Requires two-person assist to transfer from bed” carries weight. “Has cerebral palsy” does not, on its own.
• Measurements that repeat. Sit-to-stand counts, walking distance, transfer assistance levels, times. Numbers that were taken the same way last year and can be taken the same way next year. Taken the same way usually means taken by the same person: where the physiotherapist changes every few months, the numbers rarely survive the handover and the next report starts from zero.
• Each plan goal, named, with progress against it. Not a general summary. Goal by goal.
• What happens without the support. This goes directly to whether a support is effective, beneficial and value for money, two of the six reasonable and necessary criteria. A report that does not address it leaves the decision-maker to guess.
• What the next period is for, and roughly how much therapy it takes.

What a thin report looks like

Two paragraphs of narrative, no numbers, no goals named, and a closing line recommending continued therapy. The physiotherapist may well be right. The problem is that nothing in it can be checked against last year or compared to next.

If a report could have been written about a different person by changing the name, it will not do the job.

Who can ask for a reassessment?

The participant, their plan nominee or child representative — and the NDIS is specific that“You can’t give consent to someone else, like a provider, to ask for a plan reassessment”. A physiotherapist writes the evidence; they cannot lodge the request.

When to ask

• Six to eight weeks out. A good report often needs a reassessment session to get current measurements, and that has to be booked.
• Say what it is for. A report for a plan reassessment is a different document from a letter to a GP.
• Ask what it will cost against the budget and factor it in. Report writing is legitimate, claimable, and it uses funding.
• Read it before it goes. You will spot factual errors about daily life that no clinician can.

If the report you get is weak

Ask for specific additions rather than rejecting it. Current measurements. The goals named individually. A sentence on what happens if the support stops. Most physiotherapists will add them, because they are things that should have been in there.

If nothing improves, that is worth knowing about the service generally. A physiotherapist who cannot describe progress in measurable terms may not be tracking it — which is a bigger problem than the report.

Why the record matters more than the report

A report is a summary of the record behind it. If goals were written down at the start, measurements taken regularly, and the program changed as the person changed, the report writes itself. If none of that happened, it is an essay written from memory the week before it is due, which is why how the therapy is run matters as much as whether it happens.

If nothing has been written down so far this plan period, six weeks out is too late to start. It is worth asking now. The questions in how to choose a mobile physio are the ones that surface this before you commit.

Improved Daily Living covers which budget therapy comes from, and our NDIS page explains how visits work.