What is a Key Worker and why do they matter?
When you receive allied health and/or NDIS services from a provider, you may come across the term “Key Worker”. Key Workers are especially important when you are working with a number of therapists or even different providers to ensure you’re getting quality support across the board.
- What is a Key Worker?
- What do they do?
- Why is having a Key Worker important?
In this guide, we’ll introduce you to the concept of a Key Worker Model and explain just how integral having a one can be.
Key Worker – what is it?
A Key Worker is the one therapist or person who is assigned as the main or sole therapy coordinator for a particular client or family. This therapist will act as the one point of contact for ongoing communication, facilitate the coordination of care and ensure that multidisciplinary consultations take place.
The Key Worker Model is designed to ensure that clients receive the care they need and deserve in a streamlined and effective way that works for them and their individual preferences.
It is important to remember that the therapist is there to empower the client and their family to exercise their choice and control regarding all matters of their support and therapy. They are not there to make the decisions on the client’s behalf. Your Key Worker will work with you to ensure that any information, services or resources required are being provided.
Key Worker Model at One Central Health
At One Central Health, we’re proud to be able to offer multidisciplinary allied health services, including psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology, dietetics and behaviour therapy.
That’s why our Key Worker Model is so critical for ensuring best practice and high quality services. Whether or not families receive multiple services from OCH or one service at our clinics and another from a different provider, the Key Worker Model ensures that the client’s therapy goals and wellbeing are being looked after by a responsible and reliable clinician.
What do Key Workers do?
Plan Therapy
Key Workers are instrumental in helping you develop a thorough and effective therapy plan. By coordinating the different services and service providers, they can utilise their high level and all-encompassing understanding of your needs to ensure the therapy plan is tailored to suit.
Provide Guidance
Many clients, families and carers look to their therapy providers for a range of information, advice and general guidance. Having one point of contact with whom you can ask all your questions and get all the information you want is extraordinarily helpful.
Facilitate Meetings
Multidisciplinary meetings are critical in the allied health industry to ensure that different therapists and clinicians work together for the benefit and wellbeing of the client. A Key Worker is tasked with facilitating and, often, running these meetings.
Communicate
From doctors and other medical practitioners to school teachers and even representatives at a funding organisation, such as the National Disability Insurance Agency, Key Workers are often responsible for ensuring communication internally and externally.
Support Coordinators vs Key Workers
NDIS Support Coordinators are similar to case managers in that they serve to “help you to make the best use of your supports in plan”. (NDIS, Retrieved 2022)
Unlike Key Workers, your Support Coordinator does not get involved in the provision or coordination of the actual therapies, but will help you to utilise your NDIS Plan and connect you with therapy providers.
Contact OCH Today
If you’d like to find out more about how One Central Health implements a Key Worker Model or anything else related to our best practice multidisciplinary allied health service, make sure to contact our friendly team today.
