We understand that you may have evidence of your disability from different health professionals at different times. When we’re deciding if you’re eligible for the NDIS, we look at:
- how old your evidence is
- who provided your evidence.
We weigh evidence based on what we consider ‘best practice’, or highest quality. We consider this evidence most strongly when we make a decision.
What type of evidence should you provide?
We need evidence to help us consider if you meet the disability or early intervention requirements.
For the disability requirements, we need evidence to confirm your permanent impairment and evidence about how this impacts your functional capacity.
For the early intervention requirements, we need evidence to confirm your permanent impairment and evidence that confirms you need early intervention.
It’s important to understand the type of evidence that you are providing us. You may have evidence from a doctor or specialist confirming your permanent impairment or you may have evidence from an allied health professional or other medical professional that tells us about impacts to your functional capacity (your ability to do daily life activities).
These are different types of evidence which will often be provided by different health professionals based on their qualifications.
How old should your evidence be?
How old should your evidence be to confirm your permanent impairment?
We need evidence from your doctor or specialist to confirm your permanent impairment. You can give us evidence confirming this from any age. However, evidence about how your impairment impacts your functional capacity should be from the last 12 months.
How old should your evidence be to confirm your functional capacity?
Generally, we need evidence about how your impairment impacts your functional capacity from the last 12 months. This is because your functional capacity may change over time – even if your impairment does not. It’s important that we have evidence of your current circumstances to ensure we understand your support needs.
If you give us more than one type of evidence, we might weigh the newer evidence over the older evidence. If you give us older evidence, we will generally give this less weighting when we make our decision. In these cases, we will generally ask for more information. If this is not provided, we may decide you are not eligible for the NDIS.
How old should your evidence be to confirm you need early intervention?
We need evidence from your doctor or specialist to confirm your permanent impairment and that you need early intervention.
Generally, we need evidence about that confirms you need early intervention from the last 12 months. This is because your functional capacity may change over time – even if your impairment does not.
It’s important that we have evidence of your current circumstances to ensure we understand your support needs.
Who should provide evidence?
We generally prefer evidence that comes from a treating professional who:
- is the most appropriately qualified person to provide evidence of your primary disability
- has treated you for a significant period of time (at least six months)
- is registered to practise in Australia or New Zealand
- provides disability evidence (such as a medical report) that is original, genuine and specific to you.
Depending on your situation, you might get your evidence of permanent impairment from a different treating professional than your evidence of functional capacity.
If you need help to get your evidence together, your local area coordinator or early childhood partner can help you.
Who should provide evidence of your permanent impairment?
We generally prefer evidence from your doctor or specialist to confirm your permanent impairment.
Examples of common doctors or specialists include:
- General Practitioner (GP)
- Paediatrician
- Orthopaedic surgeon
- Neurologist
- Psychiatrist.
Who should provide evidence of your functional capacity?
We generally prefer evidence from a doctor, specialist, allied health or other medical professional for confirm how your permanent impairment impacts your functional capacity.
In addition to doctors and specialists, examples of common allied health or other medical professionals include:
- Occupational Therapist
- Speech Pathologist (Therapist)
- Psychologist
- Physiotherapist.
Who should provide evidence that you need for early intervention?
We generally prefer evidence from your doctor or specialist to confirm your permanent impairment.
Whereas a doctor, specialist, allied health or other medical professional can give us evidence to confirm you need early intervention.
In addition to doctors and specialists, examples of common allied health or other medical professionals include:
- Occupational Therapist
- Speech Pathologist (Therapist)
- Psychologist
- Physiotherapist.
Health professionals registered to practise in Australia and New Zealand
We strongly prefer evidence of your disability to come from a registered Australian or New Zealand health professional. Most Australian health professionals are registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) .
We will still consider evidence from non-Australian or New Zealand health professionals, or unregistered health professionals. However, this evidence will be given less weight.
If we cannot confirm the registration of your health professional, we will ask you (and your health professional) for more information in the first instance. If we still cannot confirm their registration, we will likely decide that you are not eligible for the NDIS.