Allied health and workplace rehabilitation providers
Services provided by you, as an allied health or workplace rehabilitation provider, are an essential part of the workers' compensation treatment and rehabilitation process.
The services you provide make a big difference to health and wellbeing outcomes for injured workers. You're central to supporting injured workers in returning to work and getting their lives back on track.
Getting started
Before starting treatment, rehabilitation or return to work services, make sure there's a referral from a registered medical practitioner or a current work capacity certificate.
A work capacity certificate must only be completed by an AHPRA registered medical doctor, nurse practitioner (minor injury) or dentist (oral injury).
Your role
As an allied health provider, your role is to:
- provide treatment, rehabilitation and support, together with the whole treatment and rehabilitation team
- coordinate or be involved in the rehabilitation and return to work process
- keep a worker’s insurer informed about their recovery progress and ongoing needs
- positively support the goal of early, safe return to work.
Focus on rehabilitation and return to work
The goal is to return a worker to work as quickly and safely as possible. When a worker and their employer, insurer and treating health providers work together, it can improve rehabilitation and return to work outcomes.
Research tells us that the longer a person is off work, the chance of returning decreases.
These tips will help you support an injured worker to stay at, or return to, work.
- assess the worker's condition and chat with them about the importance of staying active and, if possible, staying at work.
- set realistic treatment goals that focus on what they can do, not what can't.
- provide relevant treatment and rehabilitation support.
- identify any risks that might slow their recovery or return to work and talk to the rehabilitation and return to work team about these, if needed.
- encourage, where appropriate, a worker to self-manage, including home exercises and management of their suitable duties (e.g. taking regular breaks).
- openly communicate with an employer and insurer about the treatment approach and the return to work goals.
- Help identify and source suitable duties.
Principles of practice for workplace rehabilitation providers
Workplace rehabilitation providers play a key role in optimising workers’ recovery and return to work.
Workplace rehabilitation providers are encouraged to adopt the principles of practice for workplace rehabilitation providers (PDF, 0.28 MB). The principles were developed after extensive consultation with industry and:
- recognise the importance of work in recovery
- guide workplace rehabilitation providers in delivering workplace rehabilitation services to a worker
- inform the workplace rehabilitation provider approval and management frameworks of workers’ compensation authorities
- support the vision of the National Return to Work Strategy 2020-2030
- complement the clinical framework for the delivery of treatment services.
The Return to work services table of costs sets out the services, fees and the specific requirements for accreditation and service standards for workplace rehabilitation providers in the Queensland workers’ compensation scheme.