OT handover
What to send the new OT so you are not the briefing
A first occupational-therapy visit should not start with a parent reconstructing the last six months in the car park.
This page is a short send-list and a copyable message. Use it on its own. Kinovo is optional at the end.
- For:
- Participants, families, nominees, Team leaders, support coordinators
- Includes:
- what not to attach, five fields that belong in the first send, a copyable message
- Time:
- about eight minutes to read; about ten minutes to send
Published 5 September 2026 · Updated 8 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 new OT is Thursday.
The last therapist left. Their notes are in a system nobody else can open. The current plan is in a folder. The “please don’t do it that way” conversation lives in a thread. Someone — usually the person who checks their phone — has been asked to “just catch them up.”
That briefing is unpaid work. It is also how current information gets thinner each time it is retold.
The team is not careless. The picture has nowhere to sit. The first send is how you stop being the picture.
This is not a clinical handover, a diagnosis essay, or a reason to attach the last three years.
It does not replace the OT’s own assessment, their professional record, a service agreement, or an emergency plan. If someone may be unsafe, do not wait for an OT email. Use the agreed emergency, health or safeguarding channel.
Still waiting for an appointment? Start with the therapy enquiry and waitlist tracker.
What not to send
Do not attach the last three years.
A new OT does not need every old report, every expired goal, and a diagnosis essay on the night before the appointment. A pile that large gets skimmed. The one current instruction they actually need on visit one gets lost in it.
Leave out:
- Full history “for context”
- Every previous allied-health report “in case it helps”
- Clinical detail the OT should collect themselves
- Other people’s private notes you were copied on
- Funding arguments, complaint threads, or the story of why the last provider ended — unless it changes how Thursday should run
- The whole NDIS plan as a default onboarding pack
- Anything the participant has not agreed should be shared with this person
If a document is only useful after they have met the person, it can wait until they ask.
What belongs in the first send
Five fields. One screen. No novel.
- 1. Who is at the centre — one or two lines
- Name they use, how they communicate in a first session, who will be in the room. Not a biography.
- 2. What matters this month
- The current goal or problem the visit is actually for. One or two sentences. If the plan has twelve goals, still pick the one this appointment is for.
- 3. What they need on visit one
- Only the practical instruction that would change how they walk in the door. Transfers, fatigue, sensory load, communication, equipment in the house, a “do not” that is current. If nothing in that list is current, write “no special visit-one protocol — please ask on the day.”
- 4. Who owns the next step after the session
- Who books the follow-up, who receives the report, who talks to the school or the support worker. One name each.
- 5. Where the latest document is
- One link or one attachment. Label it with the date. “Latest OT letter, March 2026” is useful. “Reports.zip” is not.
That is the briefing. Everything else is available on request.
Copyable message
Paste this into email or a message. Delete the lines that do not apply. Do not add a sixth section “just in case.”
Subject: Before Thursday — current picture for [first name]’s OT visit
Hi [OT name],
Thank you for taking [first name] on. Below is the current picture for visit one, so you are not relying on someone reconstructing it on the day.
Who will be there
[First name]. Communication on a first visit: [one line]. In the room: [who].
What this visit is for
[One or two sentences. This month, not the whole plan.]
What you need on visit one
[Current practical instruction — or “nothing extra; please ask on the day.”]
After the session
Report to: [name, role].
Next booking: [name].
Anything that should also go to the care team: [name].
Latest document
[Title, month year]. Attached / link: [one item].
If you need an older report or a longer history, ask and we will send that piece. We would rather send less now than bury the current instruction.
Thanks,
[Your name]
[Role in the care team]
Send it two to three days before the appointment, not the night before, and not as a 19-message thread on the morning of.
Who should send it
Default: the Team leader — the person trusted to hold access and the current picture. That is often a parent, a partner, an adult sibling, or a nominee.
A support coordinator can send it when that is already their job for this participant. If they send it, they should still say who in the family is in the room on Thursday. An OT walking in without knowing who will be there is a different kind of briefing.
Do not send two versions. Two versions is how the OT gets two current pictures.
If the participant can and wants to send it themselves, they should. The point is one briefing, not a particular family member performing it forever.
After they have been once
The first send is a door. It is not the relationship.
After visit one, the useful update is short:
- What changed
- What is now waiting (report, equipment, a school letter)
- Who owns that next step
- The new “latest document,” dated
You do not re-send the original novel with a new cover.
The OT should be the person who supplies the report. The family should not have to chase it through a second reconstructed thread.
Before you attach anything
Share the smallest useful set.
The participant, or the person with authority to decide, chooses what this OT sees. An old behaviour report, a hospital discharge, or another family member’s email is not automatically part of an OT handover.
If you are unsure whether a file belongs in visit one, it does not.
This page does not replace consent processes, professional obligations, or an emergency plan. If someone may be unsafe, do not wait for an OT email.
If you want that sitting somewhere other than the thread
The message above works in inbox form. That is enough.
If the same five fields keep getting rewritten every time a professional joins, that is the gap a shared workspace is for.
In Kinovo those five fields have a home without turning the family into the briefing department:
- Who is at the centre sits in the shared profile — short, current, not a medical record.
- What matters this month sits as a goal.
- The visit-one instruction sits as a Care Protocol the invited OT can open before they arrive. Care Protocols are practical guidance, not clinical notes and not an emergency plan.
- Who owns the next step sits as a task. After the visit, the OT can attach the report to that task instead of the family chasing it through email.
- The latest document sits in the private library with its own visibility. An invitation to the workspace is not permission to open every file.
The Team leader invites the OT. The OT contributes their part. Formal notes stay in the OT’s own system. Kinovo does not write the assessment, book the appointment, or replace the OT’s record.
You can also keep using the message and never create an account.
- Adding Care Protocols
- What Kinovo is and who it is for
- What Kinovo should and should not be used for
- How to keep an NDIS care team on the same page
- NDIS care-team setup checklist
- How support coordinators can reduce chasing without adding more admin
- NDIS plan review checklist and reassessment evidence tracker
- 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 consent and plan-sharing steps. The first-send list on this page is practical coordination, not an NDIA requirement.
FAQ
What should I send a new OT before the first appointment?
Five fields: who is at the centre, what this visit is for, the current visit-one instruction, who owns the next step after the session, and one labelled latest document. Everything else waits until they ask.
Should I send the whole NDIS plan to a new OT?
Usually no. Send the current goal for this work and the practical instruction that would change visit one. The full plan is a different share. Use the official NDIS process when a provider needs portal access to a defined part.
Who should send the first briefing to the OT?
One person. Default is the Team leader. A support coordinator can send it when that is already their job, as long as they still name who will be in the room. Two versions is how the OT gets two current pictures.
Do I need Kinovo to use this handover?
No. The copyable message works in email. If the care team already uses a shared workspace, invite the OT to that workspace so they can open the current instruction and attach the report to the waiting task. Formal notes stay in the OT’s own system.
Is a Care Protocol the same as an OT clinical note?
No. A Care Protocol is current practical guidance the invited team may need to find quickly. It is not a medical record, a therapy note, or a substitute for the OT’s assessment.
Disclaimer
This resource provides general coordination information only. It is not legal, clinical, privacy, safeguarding, financial or NDIS funding advice. Use current instructions from the appropriate qualified person and follow agreed emergency and professional processes.