An initial consultation is where we complete a full dietetic assessment to form recommendations about what therapies we can provide to you. A main dietitian and back-up dietitian will attend the initial consultation, these will be allocated depending on your location and the dietitian's area of expertise. The main dietitian will gather information about your health and diet. They will ask you a lot of questions to support you with your health and well-being including your; living situation, hobbies, struggles with food, medical history, height, weight, food-related symptoms, bowel habits, usual diet, likes, dislikes and exercise levels. You may like to have a support person with you to help you answer these questions. The back-up dietitian will be completing a risk assessment to ensure that the housing is safe for us to provide therapy to you in. The back-up dietitian is likely to remain involved in your therapy, especially when your main dietitian is away or unwell. The “main” and “back-up” dietitians can be swapped, meeting the two dietitians means that you have choice and control over which one provides the majority of your therapy.
For the smoothest experience and to help us provide the best possible assessment, we ask that prior to the Initial Consultation appointment, a Consent to Release Information Form is completed. This form is not mandatory but allows us to look into such information as doctor’s reports and other health information which will improve the quality of our report and our assessment. Providing copies of any current reports from doctors and/or allied health professionals will also be very useful in gaining a holistic understanding of your health and wellbeing. If we can work together as a team with your other support providers, it will be easier to reach your goals.
An Initial Consult is an opportunity for you to:
Discuss a range of dietetic therapy options within The Innovative Dietitian. We can support you in your exploration of what services could be helpful to you. Dietitians not only help you improve your diet but can also assist in meal and menu planning, cooking skills, recipe reading, food shopping skills and more.
Meet your dietitian and back-up dietitian. Starting your journey with them and providing a time to meet the person who can see you if your main dietitian is away or unwell.
Explore your likes, dislikes and goals to create a holistic and client focused service for you.
The dietetic assessment and plan are provided in a basic dietetic report. This is a report designed to provide an overview into the information we discussed in our consult, your nutritional status and our dietetic recommendations. This report is not designed to be used in your NDIS plan review, instead it helps form the basis for ongoing services within your current plan. This plan will have short term and long term strategies. The short term plan is for things you need addressed urgently, perhaps you have lost too much weight and need nutrition support or have been diagnosed with a diet related disease and need advice to prevent symptoms. The short term plan can be actioned immediately with the approval of yourself or your support coordinator. The long term plan will be written into an ongoing service agreement, it may include regular dietetic education, skill development sessions such as cooking, food related outings and more.
Key points for this package include:
This package is most useful when you have just started a new NDIS plan, or are part-way through but need dietetic therapy as soon as possible.
The short term dietetic plan can be actioned within your current service agreement with your approval at the hourly rate as per current NDIS price schedule.
A copy of the dietetic assessment and plan will be available within 2 weeks of your initial consultation.
