Occupational Therapy

What we do

With over 80 occupational therapists employed across a wide range of program areas, Occupational Therapy at Bendigo Health aims to provide timely and accessible services to patients, clients and residents of Bendigo Health.

Occupational therapy focuses on enhancing the independence and safe of clients by enabling them to participate in their chosen occupations so they can live satisfying and meaningful lives. ‘Occupations’ refers to all activities a person engages in such as personal care, household duties, accessing and involvement in the community, work, study and play or leisure.

 Occupational therapists assess:

• A person's ability to perform their chosen occupation including physical, cognitive and psychosocial capacity
• The environment in which the person performs their occupation, e.g. at home
• The unique ways in which individuals participate in occupations.

Occupational therapy interventions aim to:

• Enable people to participate in their chosen occupation by building their skills and capacity; providing education; providing assistive equipment and by modifying environments
• Promote health and well-being through encouraging people to engage in occupations that enhance health.

Interventions may be on an individual basis or in a group setting.

Who we care for

• Inpatients
• Outpatients who have been referred from a clinical service within Bendigo Health
• People in the community who are referred to Bendigo Health outpatient and community services

How to access this service

For inpatients at Bendigo Health

We accept referrals for inpatients who have been referred internally from Bendigo Health services.

For outpatients and community services

General practitioners should utilise the Victorian Statewide Referral Form (VSRF). A template for GPs is embedded within the Medical Director software.

Referrers external to Bendigo Health should utilise the Connecting Care website http://www.connectingcare.com/ to either complete a referral online or attach a document that can be securely emailed to the Bendigo Health Referral Centre.