Attendance Policy

Cancelled and Missed Appointments

We understand that plans sometimes need to change. However, regular attendance is important for continuity of care and helps us make limited appointment times available to other families.

Please provide at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment.

Cancellation fees

More than 24 hours’ notice: No charge
2–24 hours’ notice: 50% of the session fee
Less than 2 hours’ notice or non-attendance: 100% of the session fee

We generally send appointment reminders, but clients remain responsible for keeping track of their scheduled appointments.

How to cancel

You can cancel or reschedule by:

contacting your clinician directly, or
calling our administration team on (03) 9811 7052.

If you reach voicemail, your message will be time-stamped and we will use that time when determining whether a cancellation fee applies.

Attendance expectations

To support continuity of care and fair access to appointments, clients are expected to maintain an attendance rate of at least 75% — approximately 3 out of every 4 scheduled appointments.

Frequent cancellations can disrupt therapy and prevent other families from accessing appointments.

Ongoing access to a regular appointment time may therefore be reviewed if attendance falls below this level.

Rescheduling instead of cancelling

Where possible, we encourage you to reschedule rather than miss an appointment.

Depending on availability and clinical suitability, options may include:

moving the appointment to another time within 7 days
changing the appointment to telehealth
using the appointment for a parent or carer consultation.

We will try to be flexible where possible. However, frequent rescheduling may not be sustainable. If your usual appointment time is becoming difficult to maintain, please speak with your clinician or our administration team so we can consider other options.

Payment of cancellation fees

Cancellation fees may be paid or processed through:

the credit card held on file
an NDIS Plan Manager, where applicable and permitted under the participant’s funding arrangements
EFTPOS in the clinic or over the phone
an issued invoice.

Invoices are due within 7 days.

If you are having difficulty paying an invoice, please contact our administration team as early as possible. We are happy to discuss a payment plan.

Where an account remains unpaid and no payment arrangement has been made, Family Minded may take further steps to recover the outstanding amount, including referral to a debt collection service. Any applicable recovery costs will be managed in accordance with our service agreement and relevant requirements.