In-home allied health
Physio, occupational therapy and podiatry delivered in the house you actually have to manage, not in a clinic gym with handrails everywhere.
Why the house is the better clinic
A physiotherapist can watch you walk beautifully along a flat clinic corridor and learn very little. Watch the same person get out of their own armchair, turn on a worn rug and reach for the kettle, and the problem is obvious in about ninety seconds.
Home visits also remove the reason most older people stop attending therapy: the trip. No taxi, no car park, no waiting room, no cancelling because it's raining and the footpath is slippery. The therapist comes to you, and the exercise program is written for the furniture you own.
Who we can send out
- Physiotherapy for strength, balance, mobility and pain, including exercise programs you can keep doing alone.
- Occupational therapy for home safety assessments, equipment prescription and daily-living techniques.
- Podiatry for nail and foot care, diabetic foot checks and footwear advice.
- Speech pathology for swallowing difficulties and for communication after a stroke.
- Dietetics for weight loss, poor appetite, diabetes and modified-texture diets.
- Exercise physiology for conditioning with a heart, lung or joint condition in the mix.
Stopping the next fall
Most of this work comes back to falls. A fall costs people more independence than almost anything else, and the second one usually arrives within a year of the first.
A physiotherapist builds the balance and leg strength back. An occupational therapist deals with the other half: the rug you keep catching, the step down to the laundry, the shower with nothing to hold, the chair that's too low to rise from. Between them they change the odds. Where equipment or a rail is needed, the OT specifies it and our home modifications team fits it.
Getting back on your feet after hospital
After a hip replacement, a stroke or a long admission, function returns fastest in the first few weeks and then gets much harder to recover. A therapist visiting at home during that window works on the specific things you need back: standing from the toilet, managing the front steps, holding a knife, swallowing safely.
What the first visit involves
The first appointment is mostly assessment, done in the rooms you actually use. Expect to be asked to walk the hallway, stand up out of your own chair without pushing off, and show how you get into the shower. The therapist writes down what they see, agrees two or three things worth working on, and leaves you with something to practise that doesn't need equipment you don't own.
You'll get a plain-English summary of what was found and what's recommended. If a son or daughter wants to sit in, they're welcome, and it saves the whole conversation being relayed second-hand over the phone that night.
Allied health is fully funded
Allied health sits in the Clinical supports category of Support at Home, the program that replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. Clinical supports are fully funded by the government, with no participant contribution from you at all. Income and Age Pension status change what you contribute towards personal care or cleaning; they change nothing here.
Booking an assessment
Call 1800 434 002 or send the form below. Describe what's changed, whether that's a fall, a diagnosis, a hospital stay or just legs that aren't what they were. We'll tell you which therapist to start with and what the first visit involves. Nothing is charged for that conversation.
Other services
- In-home nursing — wound care, medication management and clinical monitoring.
- Home modifications — rails, ramps and bathroom changes fitted to an OT's plan.
- Personal care — help with showering, dressing and moving around the house.
- All services
Common questions
Which allied health professionals can come to the house?
Physiotherapists and occupational therapists are the two people ask for most. We also arrange podiatry, speech pathology, dietetics and exercise physiology. If you are not sure which one you need, describe the problem when you call and we will tell you who is the right person for it.
Do I need a referral from my GP?
Not to talk to us, and not to use allied health under a Support at Home package. If your GP or the hospital has already written a plan, have it handy, because it saves the therapist a first visit spent asking questions your discharge summary already answers.
Do I pay anything for allied health?
No. Allied health sits in the Clinical supports category of Support at Home, which the government funds in full. There is no participant contribution for clinical supports, whatever your income and whether or not you receive the Age Pension.
Can the occupational therapist help me get equipment or a rail fitted?
Yes, and that assessment is usually where equipment and home modifications begin. The occupational therapist watches how you actually move through the house, then specifies what would help and where it needs to go. We can then arrange the work through our home modifications service.
Will I see the same therapist each time?
For a course of therapy, yes. Progress is measured against what the therapist saw on the first visit, so changing therapists halfway through costs you a session of catching up. We keep the same person on your file for the length of the program.
Can I start allied health before my package is approved?
Yes, privately. It is worth doing after a fall or a hospital stay, because strength and confidence are easiest to rebuild in the first weeks, not after several months of waiting. When your package is assigned the service moves onto it and your contribution stops, since clinical supports are fully funded.
Enquire about allied health
Tell us where you're up to and we'll be in touch. Prefer to talk? Call 1800 434 002.