QA 163 Whose Role is it to Prescribe Wheelchair TieDowns_ 

Ali Akbarian: Hi, everybody Ali Akbarian from mobility engineering, your resident road safety expert back again for another Q and A thank you very much for those questions, and keep them on coming. We love those questions and we'll keep on producing those videos as you keep them coming. And as I always say, with my trusty subscribed pillow, please hit the button that looks like that down there. We'd love your support to get to that thousand subscriber mark, please, please, please show us, love, hit that button and we'll keep these videos coming. All right, so onto today's question. So, today's question, we've covered sort of various versions of it, but this is a little bit more specific about a product, and basically, it says it comes from a therapist an occupational therapist who's working with NDIS, and basically, it says whose role is it to prescribe wheelchair tie-down systems? Is it the OT? Is it the vehicle modifier, or is it the wheelchair manufacturer? So, it depends on what we're talking about prescriptions, when we're talking about that, what we're going to assume in terms of the context of this video is that we're talking about NDIS prescriptions, right? So, when it comes to the NDIS prescriptions, everything that is in that prescription is written generally by the allied health professional, and in our space, which is assistive technology, the majority of the allied health professionals are occupational therapists.  

So, the person who is writing the prescription and who is signing off on that prescription is the person who is responsible for everything in that prescription. What the role of the OT after a lot of discussions with various OTs in NDIS is to do that research is to get that stuff in writing from the manufacturers, from the wheelchair manufacturers, from the converters, from the modifiers. 

So, it's your job to understand the client and what the client needs, and then go out to the market from the people that have the products for the client, and get the specs, and make sure that maps to the quiet and as long as the specs maps to the client, and it's going to go into the vehicle, and I always recommend having all of that in writing verified in writing for your file, then your responsibilities are alleviated onto those people that have made those claims. So, for example, we've got this here we've done many videos on this because this is coming up as a topic. So, six wheelchair tie-down points or six wheelchair tie-downs are being used on wheelchairs nowadays on heavier wheelchairs. So, it is up to the occupational therapist to work with the manufacturer. 

So, the occupational therapist will determine, okay, this is the wheelchair that they need for the client, right? With various specifications and whatever they've done with the wheelchair and the client and the manufacturer.  

Then the next part of the equation, if it's going to be used in transport is they need to continue the discussions with the manufacturer of the wheelchair and get the instructions from them or specifications on what is the requirement for the tie-downs because the manufacturer of the wheelchair specifies that. So, they will have some kind of instruction or some kind of book or something that says you need to use six tie-downs four tie-downs, and it can be connected to the seat and they need to be connected to the race or whatever it is, the instructions there, you just follow that, right. But it's up to you to get that and make sure you've got that. 

And then when you do prescribe the products, you've got the paper backing and the trail to back you up on that prescription, but the person prescribing it is the person responsible. The person providing specifications is also responsible for their part of the role. So, for example, if I'm a wheelchair manufacturer and I've told you in my specifications that you need four wheelchair tie-downs and then you apply for four wheelchair tie-downs and then it's approved and it gets installed to the vehicle, but it doesn't get passed by the authorities. Then it's not your responsibility. It is the responsibility of the wheelchair manufacturer because they have provided you in writing specifications saying that it requires four, right? So, this is what I'm talking about. The OT is typically, or the allied health professional is typically the sort of central point and everyone is kind of coming to them, or they're going out to everyone and getting that information and putting it all together and making sure that it's suitable for  

the client and the vehicle. 

And then moving on to the vehicle when it comes to the vehicle modifier, the vehicle modifies role is simple. Their role is to verify that the products that you have taken to them or the products you've chosen from them, or the products they sell, basically the products that you want to use for your client, that you've mapped to your client, it's their role to determine if those products will fit in your vehicle or in your client's vehicle. And that's it, right? And if you want the guarantee of that and you want to alleviate responsibility away from that, then you would get a written confirmation or a written quote with vehicle details, all specifically written in there, from the modifier to say that I can install, let's say, for example, this wheelchair, tie-downs into that Volkswagen as long as it's that brand and this, this, and whatever it is that they want to do, as long as you've got that written confirmation, that they can install that into that product, into that vehicle, that product leave their vehicle, then you're not responsible for the installation anymore, or the ability of it to be installed because you've done the background check and you've got the paperwork trail. 

So, hopefully, that kind of clarifies that relationship there. Generally speaking, the OT is that central point, and their role is to understand what is their client's needs, and then map that to the parts, by checking the specifications of the parts and the assistive, and making sure that it is suitable for the client, for the vehicle and by using the people around them to get written confirmation of that. And that's basically from what we've been advised from NDIS and various OT groups is the general process of what you would want to be following and the general responsibility chain. But make no mistake about it if you are signing your name on a prescription and submitting it to NDIS, you're the person responsible there are no two ways about that one. Alright. So, hopefully, if that helps answer that question. Thank you very much for tuning in. Thanks for those questions. Keep them coming in and we'll see you next time.