Occupational therapists · Occupational Therapy Board of Australia
An OT's assessment can decide whether someone gets funding, equipment, a driving licence back or a safe return home. That power sits largely on paper, which is why documentation causes nearly as many complaints about OTs as clinical care does. These courses focus on the reports, conversations and decisions that occupational therapy work turns on.
The core risk
In 2024/25, documentation accounted for 18.8% of the concerns raised about occupational therapists, close behind clinical care at 20.0%. Few professions see records rank so high, and the reason is easy to find. A functional capacity assessment, a home modification report or a driving assessment is read and relied on by planners, insurers, builders, licensing authorities and families, most of whom never meet the client.
When the report overstates, understates, copies wording from a template that does not fit, or reaches conclusions the observations do not support, the harm can be real and the complainant may be someone you have never spoken to. Writing a report you can stand behind is a professional skill: separating what you observed from what you were told, staying inside your role, declaring any interest in a recommended supplier, and making sure the client understands what you will write before you write it.
Watch
Occupational Therapy Board, 2024/25
Scenarios
Invented composites for teaching purposes; none is a real case.
Under time pressure, an OT reuses a previous functional capacity report as a starting point. Two paragraphs about stair use and a second carer stay in by mistake, and the planner relies on them. The participant's family complains that the report does not describe their son.
An OT recommends a particular builder for bathroom modifications without mentioning that her partner is a director of the company. The work is fine, but the client later learns of the connection and questions every recommendation in the report.
After an on-road assessment, the OT tells an older client he did 'pretty well' and could probably keep driving locally. The written report to the licensing authority recommends cancelling the licence. The client feels deceived.
Trying to help a child at school, an OT emails the class teacher details from the family history that the parents shared in confidence. The parents only meant the teacher to receive the sensory strategies.
CPD registration standard
The revised standard has applied since 1 December 2019. One change it made: practitioners coming back after time away no longer have to complete a fixed 30 hours first.
Source: Occupational Therapy Board CPD registration standard and FAQs.
Your code
The Occupational Therapy Board regulates against the shared Code of conduct, which twelve Boards adopted with effect from 29 June 2022. Next to it sit the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards 2018, which describe what a competent OT knows and can do. If someone questions how well you practised, expect both documents to be used.
Some parts of the code matter more in OT practice than elsewhere: conflicts of interest when you recommend equipment or suppliers, confidentiality when you share information with schools, employers and funders, and the section on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and cultural safety, which applies equally in homes, communities and remote settings.
Written for occupational therapists
Start with the two courses written for occupational therapists. The third is a three-hour course on ethics and professionalism across OT practice settings.
Ethical reasoning for OTs: autonomy and risk, consent, conflicts of interest and fairness in funding decisions.
Professional standards in OT practice: reports, scope, teamwork, supervision and conduct with funders.
A longer course on ethics and professionalism across hospital, community, NDIS and paediatric work.
Reports and notes that keep observation, opinion and recommendation apart.
Supplier links, referrals and honest claiming.
Sharing information with schools, employers and funders lawfully.
Making sure the client understands the assessment and its consequences.
Respectful, non-discriminatory practice with diverse clients.
Delivering difficult news, such as a driving outcome, clearly and kindly.
Program
For concerns about assessment quality, reports or repeated errors, this program brings together five courses on performance and safe practice.
Includes 5 courses
A$1,065 is the total of the five course prices. No discount is applied.
Supplier links, billing or records
Financial integrity, documentation, Medicare compliance and privacy.
Program total A$996
What the client understood
Communication, consent, disclosure and dignity.
Program total A$876
A notification is open
Seven courses from the process to rebuilding trust.
Program total A$1,323
A planned CPD year
Ten courses across ethics, records and safety.
Program total A$1,890
Other regulators
Many OTs also deliver NDIS supports, which brings a second regulator into view. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission can act on concerns about NDIS providers and workers separately from Ahpra, so a single incident can lead to correspondence from both.
In NSW, complaints about OTs are managed by the Occupational Therapy Council of New South Wales with the Health Care Complaints Commission. Queensland complaints start with the Office of the Health Ombudsman, which talks to Ahpra and then either passes the matter to the Board or keeps it. The code and CPD standard apply nationally.
Keep your evidence of change together
If a concern has been raised, the most persuasive evidence is often simple: a revised report template, an audit of your own recent reports, supervision notes and the certificates for the learning you chose. The remediation course explains how to assemble and present it.
Remediation courseFurther reading
How we write
The Probity Courses editorial team builds each OT course from the shared code, the competency standards and the Occupational Therapy Board's registration standards, and revises it when they change. Courses are online and self-paced. Each one ends with a certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time; record the time you actually spend, with your reflection, in your CPD record.
Twenty hours a year, of which at least five must be interactive, all directly relevant to your practice and each with a written reflection.
No. They are individual, self-paced learning. They can count towards the other 15 hours; arrange interactive activities such as peer review or workshops separately.
No. Occupational therapists use the shared Code of conduct, alongside the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards 2018.
Usually the clinical competence program together with the documentation course. If the complaint involves a supplier relationship or claiming, add the probity program.
No course can do that. Relevant learning, a reflection and evidence of changed practice can show insight, but each regulator decides independently. Get advice from your insurer early.
Yes. The scenarios include school settings, families, mental health services and community practice.
A certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time. Record the time you actually spend in your CPD record with your reflection.
Check the Board's recency of practice standard first. Then the two core OT courses give you a current view of the code and professional standards before you return.
Yes. Choose courses for several people on the multi-course page, or contact us to arrange a team order.
The Occupational Therapy Council of New South Wales with the Health Care Complaints Commission. Ahpra still manages your registration.
The Occupational Therapy Board of Australia regulates OTs with Ahpra's support.
Start with the two core OT courses, or choose the program that matches your situation.