Plan reassessment
How to ask an allied-health clinician for a plan-review report
Do not ask an OT for “a report for the NDIS.” Ask one question, name the process and date, and say what a useful report looks like.
This page is the request. Use it on its own. Kinovo is optional at the end.
It is not another list of what to bring to a review. The evidence map already lives in the plan review checklist and reassessment evidence tracker. This page is the email that stops the report sitting as a sentence in a thread.
- For:
- Participants, families, nominees, Team leaders and support coordinators
- Includes:
- What to ask for + copyable request email + a short waiting nudge
- Time:
- 8 minute read
Published 5 September 2026 · Updated 6 September 2026
Written by Callum Cruikshank — Founder of Kinovo
Callum draws on his family's lived experience of coordinating support. These resources offer practical coordination ideas, not clinical, legal or NDIS funding advice. No independent clinical review is claimed.
The review is in eight weeks.
The OT has been seeing the person all year. Someone said “we’ll need a report.” That sentence is now in three inboxes and a family chat. Nobody named the question the report is supposed to answer. Nobody named the date a draft has to exist. Nobody said who reviews it before it travels.
An unclear request can add to delays, alongside clinical workloads and other pressures. Agreeing the question and timing can make the next step easier.
A useful request gives the clinician enough context to respond. Rather than stopping at “please send a report”, name the purpose and ask what timing is realistic.
What this page is not
This is not a packing list for the meeting.
It does not decide what the NDIA will ask for, accept, or fund. It does not tell an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech pathologist or psychologist how to write their report. Official guidance for clinicians sits with the NDIA — start with How to write a plan reassessment report.
It is not a request to the NDIA. From 27 August 2026, official NDIS material says only a participant, their nominee or their child representative can request a plan reassessment. A support coordinator can help prepare. They should not be described here as the person who lodges that request.
If someone may be unsafe, do not wait for a report email. Use the agreed emergency or safeguarding channel.
Official clinician guidance
Ask these five things before you write
If any of these are unclear, use the request to confirm them together. You do not need to have every answer before asking for help.
- 1. Which process is this for?
- Check whether this is for a check-in, a plan reassessment, a variation or another process. People use “the review” in different ways, so confirm what is actually happening with your my NDIS contact.
- 2. What question should this report help answer?
- One question. Examples: has transfers at home changed since March. Is the current community-access support still the right shape. What happens if therapy stops. Not “please cover everything in case.”
- 3. Is this clinician the right person?
- They should already know this person in this area of work. A new OT you have not met is a different send — use What to send the new OT first. Do not ask a speech pathologist to write the mobility picture.
- 4. What does a useful response look like?
- A dated report that answers the question, names current function and what was trialled, and makes a recommendation the clinician is willing to stand behind. Or a short reply that this request is outside their role or timeframe.
- 5. When is it needed, and who reviews it?
- A needed-by date that leaves room for a revision. A named person who reads it before it is shared more widely. “ASAP” and “whoever is around” are how drafts wander.
- NDIS plan review checklist and reassessment evidence tracker
- What to send the new OT so you are not the briefing
The same five questions sit behind any coordination request in How support coordinators can reduce chasing. This page is that pattern aimed at one report.
What to ask the therapist for
Ask for the smallest piece that answers the question.
Usually that is:
- The process and date you are preparing for
- The one question
- Current function in the area they treat, compared with the start of this work where they can
- What was trialled, and what changed
- What they recommend next, in their lane
- Anything they are not able to comment on
That is enough for most plan-review preparation. It is also close to what official allied-health guidance already asks clinicians to cover: service delivered, progress toward goals, and recommendations for the next period.
You can also ask them to say if they cannot do it in time, or if a different professional should write that piece. A clear no is a useful response. A vague “we’ll try” is not.
What not to ask
Do not ask them to write the NDIS decision.
Leave out of the request:
- “Make sure we get more hours”
- “Write it so it will be approved”
- A demand that they copy last year’s report and change the date
- A request that they comment on funding, another clinician’s work, or a family dispute
- Every old report “for context” attached to the same email
- A reminder every three days with no new information
Do not attach the whole plan as the briefing. Share the smallest useful set. Who should see the plan is a separate judgement — Who should see my NDIS plan.
Do not ask three clinicians for the same question. Two reports that answer different questions are useful. Three reports that repeat each other are a pile.
Who should send it
Default: the participant, or the nominee / authorised decision-maker.
A support coordinator can send it when that is already their job for this person. If they send it, the email should say so, and should say the participant has agreed to this request. A clinician should not have to guess whether the family wanted this.
Do not send two versions. Two versions is how the OT writes two reports.
Send it early enough that a “no, not in that timeframe” still leaves you time to change the plan. A request sent twelve days before the meeting is a hope, not a request.
Copyable request
Paste this into email. Delete the lines that do not apply. Do not add a sixth section “just in case.”
Subject: Plan-review report for [first name] — [one-line question]
Hi [clinician name],
With [participant / authorised decision-maker]’s agreement, we are preparing for [check-in / plan reassessment / variation] on or around [date].
Could you please advise whether a written report from you is appropriate for this, and if so, whether a final version can be ready by [needed-by date]?
The question we need the report to help answer
[One plain-language question. One area of function or one current goal.]
A useful report for this would include
- Current function in this area, and how it compares with the start of this work if you can
- What has been trialled and what changed
- Your recommendation for the next period, in your role
- Anything you are not able to comment on
Please say by [earlier feasibility date] if this is outside your role or timeframe. That is a useful answer. We would rather know now than wait on a report that cannot arrive.
Current context, if needed
[One labelled file or three lines. Not the archive.]
How to return it
[Agreed secure method.]
Please send it to [name]. [Name] will review it before it is shared more widely.
Thanks,
[Your name]
[Role in the care team]
Send it once. Put a next-check date in your own list. Then leave the clinician room to work.
Copyable waiting nudge
Use this only after the check date you already named. Do not send it because you are anxious. Change one fact — a date, a blocker, or a smaller request.
Subject: Checking in — [first name] report needed by [date]
Hi [clinician name],
Checking the report we requested on [request date] for [process] on [meeting or needed-by date].
A useful update is one of:
- the report will be with [name] by [date]
- you need [X] first
- this is outside your role or timeframe
If the full report will not be ready, a short note that answers the one question — [repeat the question] — is still useful.
Thanks,
[Your name]
If the nudge is only “just circling back,” do not send it. Record what it is waiting on instead. That is the habit in the chasing guide.
When the report arrives
Do not forward it to everyone who might care.
- Check it answers the question you asked
- Check the date and the name
- Ask the clinician about a gap if there is one — one gap, not a rewrite
- Decide who else should see it
- Label the file with the title and month
- Close the request so it does not stay “waiting” after it is done
An unread report in a downloads folder is still waiting work.
If the clinician says they cannot write it, that is information. Put that on the evidence map and decide whether a different professional, a shorter letter, or no item is the next step. Do not leave a silent hole where a report was imagined.
Before you attach anything to the request
Share the smallest useful set.
The participant, or the person with authority to decide, chooses what this clinician sees beyond the work they already do. Last year’s rejected request, another provider’s notes, or a family argument is not automatically part of a report brief.
If you are unsure whether a file belongs in the request, it does not.
If you want the request sitting somewhere other than the thread
The email above works in an inbox. That is enough.
If the same request keeps getting rewritten every review cycle — owner, question, needed-by date, waiting reason, latest file — that is the gap a shared workspace is for.
In Kinovo that request already has a home, without turning the report into another chase:
- The process and date sit as a goal — for example prepare for the plan reassessment.
- The report sits as a task assigned to the clinician, or to the coordinator who will send the request: one owner, a needed-by date, what a useful response looks like.
- When nothing has come back, the task stays waiting, with a reason and a next-check date.
- The finished report sits in the private library, labelled and linked to that goal or task. Each file has its own visibility preset. Linking a file does not widen who can open it.
The Team leader invites only the people who need to see this work. A professional account only opens the client workspaces that person is invited to. Treat the Team leader as someone who can see a file you put in the workspace. If they should not see the report, do not upload it.
Kinovo does not write the report, decide what the NDIA wants, or submit evidence. The tracker can stay on paper or in the spreadsheet. You can also keep using the email and never create an account.
- NDIS plan review checklist and reassessment evidence tracker
- How support coordinators can reduce chasing without adding more admin
- What to send the new OT so you are not the briefing
- Who should see my NDIS plan (and who should not)
- How to keep an NDIS care team on the same page
- NDIS care-team setup checklist
- How document visibility works
- What Kinovo is and who it is for
- What Kinovo should and should not be used for
- Care Team Clarity Starter Pack
Full MVP access is free for a limited time. No payment card required.
Official guidance
Use these sources for current process and clinician-report information. The email on this page is practical coordination, not an NDIA form and not clinical advice.
Confirm current process names and who can request a reassessment on the official pages before you send. That detail can change.
FAQ
What should I ask a therapist for before an NDIS review?
One question the report should help answer, the process and date, a needed-by date, and what a useful report includes. Do not ask them to “write something for the NDIS” with no question attached.
Who should email the OT for the report?
The participant or authorised decision-maker, or a support coordinator already doing that job — with agreement named in the email. Do not send two versions.
Can a support coordinator request the plan reassessment?
This page is the request to the clinician, not to the NDIA. Official NDIS material from 27 August 2026 says only a participant, nominee or child representative can request a plan reassessment. Check the current NDIS page before you act.
What if the clinician cannot write the report in time?
Ask for that answer by an earlier feasibility date. A clear no is useful. Put it on the evidence map and decide the next piece. Do not keep a silent hole where a report was imagined.
Does this replace the evidence tracker?
No. The tracker holds the map: items, owners, dates, waiting reasons, current files. This page is one request inside that map.
Can the request live in Kinovo?
Yes. Make the review a goal, the report a task with an owner and a waiting reason, and put the finished file in the library with deliberate visibility. The email is enough on its own. Kinovo does not submit evidence to the NDIA.
Disclaimer
This resource provides general coordination information only. It is not legal, clinical, privacy, safeguarding, financial or NDIS funding advice. It does not decide what evidence the NDIA requires and does not replace official report or consent processes.