OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AND REHABILITATION CENTRES
How to Run an Occupational Therapy Centre on Steady Numbers
A mother books an assessment on a Tuesday and the therapist sets a plan. Then the family drops out after the fourth Saturday session because the slot clashes with school. The room sits empty. The therapist is paid regardless. That is the pattern worth fixing on the business side.
Our work with owners covers scheduling, therapist utilisation, package design, fee collection and the review routine that ties them together. We do not set therapy goals, comment on any child's progress or advise on assessment methods. Your therapists and the relevant councils decide those.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Families come for a block of sessions, but attendance falls after the first month, and the centre has no routine for finding out why before the slot is lost.
- 02Therapists work in fixed rooms with fixed equipment, so a cancelled child at four in the afternoon leaves both a therapist and a sensory room idle.
- 03Fees are collected per session by some staff and per package by others, so the owner cannot tell which families have paid ahead and which owe.
- 04Senior therapists carry the reputation, junior ones carry the load, and pay does not reflect that, so good people leave for a school contract or their own practice.
- 05Equipment, swings, splints and assessment kits are bought on a therapist's recommendation, with no register of cost, use or who authorised it.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01A weekly grid of therapist, room and slot, showing booked, attended, cancelled and unfilled sessions.
- 02The cancellation reasons recorded for the last month, grouped as school clash, travel, illness and cost.
- 03Package versus pay-per-session families, with balance due and the next payment date for each.
- 04Therapist utilisation: sessions delivered per week against sessions contracted, and non-clinical hours spent on notes and parent calls.
- 05The intake call script that explains how many visits families should plan for, without promising results.
- 06A pay and incentive structure for senior and junior therapists that rewards attendance of clients and documentation.
- 07An equipment purchase register with cost, therapist asking and approval.
- 08A parent review meeting calendar so a family hears about plan changes from a person, not a missed-call.
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- List every child who has missed two sessions in a row. Have the front desk call each one this week with a simple question about timing, and note the answers. You will see whether the problem is slot, cost or travel.
- Look at yesterday's schedule and mark each room-hour as used, cancelled or empty. Write the empty ones next to the therapist who was waiting. That is the capacity you are paying for and not using.
- Hypothetical example: a therapist on a fixed monthly salary has 8 sessions a day on paper but delivers 6 on average. Two sessions lost a day across 24 working days is 48 sessions unsold. Price that against your own session fee.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A one-page therapist and room utilisation sheet, reviewed weekly.
- A package and fee collection policy with a reminder script for the front desk.
- A therapist role chart with pay components and a documentation checklist.
- An equipment purchase approval form and a quarterly asset register.
Not the right fit when: A child-safety worry, a dispute with a school or a therapist's conduct needs a counsellor or the proper authority, and a business review would only get in the way.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
