Clinic Policies

Cancellation

Sunshine Speech Pathology requires 48 hours’ notice for all appointment cancellations or changes. This notice period is inclusive of weekends.

Cancellations can be made via text message or email and will be accepted as long as they are received at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time. If less than 48 hours’ notice is provided, the full session fee will be charged. For clients receiving therapy at school or childcare, it is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to notify Sunshine Speech Pathology in advance if the child will be absent or unavailable on the scheduled visit day (e.g., due to excursions, events, or illness). Failure to notify within the required timeframe will result in the cancellation fee being applied. This policy allows appointment times to be offered to other clients and helps ensure consistent, high-quality service for all families.

Illness

To support the health and safety of all clients, families, and staff, Sunshine Speech Pathology follows a “too sick for school, too sick for therapy” approach. Clients should not attend therapy if they are unwell or would be unable to attend school or childcare due to illness.

The therapist reserves the right to cancel or end a session on arrival if they believe the child, or any other member of the household, is too unwell, contagious, or displaying symptoms that make it unsafe to proceed with therapy. For home visits, this illness policy applies to any person present in the household at the time of the session.

Exclusion Guidelines
Clients should not attend therapy if experiencing any of the following:

• Gastroenteritis (vomiting or diarrhoea) – exclude until at least 48 hours symptom-free

• Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease – exclude until blisters/vesicles have dried and formed crusts

• Chickenpox – exclude until all blisters have crusted over

• Measles or other contagious illnesses – follow public health guidelines

• Head lice – exclude until treatment has been applied and lice removed

• Fever or other significant infectious symptoms

If a session is cancelled or ended due to illness with less than 48 hours’ notice, the full session fee will be charged, in line with our cancellation policy.

This policy is in place to protect vulnerable clients, families, and therapists and to maintain a safe, healthy therapy environment for everyone.

Payment and Declined Funds

Payments 

• Private Clients: Pay within 7 days by EFT (details on invoice).Ongoing services may be paused if more than two invoices remain unpaid. 

• Self-Managed NDIS: You’ll be invoiced directly to claim and pay. Ongoing services may be paused if more than two invoices remain unpaid.

• Plan-Managed NDIS: Invoices sent to your plan manager. Provide their details at intake. Ongoing services may be paused if more than two invoices remain unpaid.

Declined Funds If NDIS funds are unavailable, you are responsible for payment. Please monitor your plan. We can help you check your budget via the NDIS portal if needed. Privately paying clients are responsible for ensuring any declined payments are resolved. 

Use of AI 

At Sunshine Speech Pathology, we prioritise your privacy. We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools—specifically Lyrebird Health, a secure, Australia-based voice-to-text platform—to support efficient, accurate documentation of therapy sessions, while maintaining full ethical, legal, and professional standards.

How AI Supports Documentation We may use AI to help draft clinical documentation in two ways: a) Ambient Listening (With Consent) The therapist may activate a recording during your session to capture clinically relevant information. This feature is always opt-in and only operates when the therapist presses record. b) Post-Session Voice Note Your therapist may also record a voice summary after the session, which is transcribed into a draft progress note or report. 
No AI-generated content is stored as final documentation—your therapist reviews, edits, and finalises each note. 
Opt-In / Opt-Out Consent Use of AI tools is entirely optional:

• Opt-In: You consent to the use of AI transcription tools (ambient or voice notes)

• Opt-Out: Your therapist will continue preparing manual progress notes, as has been standard practice since Sunshine Speech Pathology began

You can change your decision at any time without impacting your access to therapy services. De-Identified Information Only To protect your confidentiality, we ensure that no personal or identifying information is processed by the AI system. This includes:

• Names (yours or your child’s)

• Date of birth

• Address and contact details

• Cultural or demographic details

• NDIS, Medicare, or other ID numbers

• Names of schools, daycares, or community organisations

• Appointment dates and times

Your therapist manually adds these details into finalised notes or reports outside the AI environment. 4. Lyrebird Health – Security, Privacy, and Compliance We use Lyrebird Health due to its strict local compliance and data protection framework. According to Lyrebird’s Privacy Policy, the platform:

• Follows the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)

• Processes all data within Australia only

• Does not store audio recordings—files are destroyed immediately post-transcription

• Applies bank-grade encryption for all data in transit and at rest

• Uses a redaction algorithm to remove personal identifiers before AI processing

• Ensures only the treating therapist can access your data

• Deletes draft data after 7 days by default, or allows clinicians to extend access for up to 6 months

• Never sells, shares, or monetises patient or clinician data

Lyrebird Health's full privacy policy is available here: https://www.lyrebirdhealth.com/au/legal/privacy-policy 
5. Final Documentation and Storage Whether AI tools are used or not:

• All notes and reports are reviewed, edited, and finalised by your therapist

• Finalised documentation is stored securely and in accordance with Australian federal health record laws

6. Your Rights You have the right to:

• Access and request corrections to your clinical records

• Decline or withdraw consent for AI-assisted tools

• Ask questions about how your data is handled at any time