How being dismissed by doctors shaped Ninja Allied Health

At just 20 years of age Amelia St Baker asked doctors to investigate a lump in her neck that would eventually be diagnosed as cancer. But at the time her concerns were dismissed, exposing gaps in care that would be a driving force of her health startup Ninja Allied Health.

The entrepreneur has since recovered, and nine years on from that unfortunate consultation, the business she founded in 2023 with husband Andy St Baker-Radice has grown to employ 27 staff and has expanded its operations interstate.

She describes that initial dismissal as a turning point that would shape the philosophy behind the allied health group.

Ninja Allied Health began by offering consultations with occupational therapists (OTs), but has since expanded to cover speech pathology, support work, assistive technology and medico-legal services. 

Speaking with Business News Australia, St Baker shared how her personal experience informed a model built around listening first.

“You go to the doctor with any problem, and as long as you're a female under a certain age…it's very hard to be listened to. I think a lot of women feel that way,” said Amelia, who completed her degree in occupational therapy seven years ago.

“Because we've come through, we urge health professionals to please actually listen to people. They know what they're talking about.”

A multidisciplinary allied health provider, Ninja Allied Health is based in Ipswich, roughly 40 minutes from Brisbane’s CBD. Its clientele ranges from children and veterans to corporate and social organisations seeking injury prevention and rehabilitation support.

While still in the early stages of research and development, the co-founders have already begun delivering personalised, 3D-printed assistive technologies tailored to individual needs.

Early examples range from a custom mud guard designed to prevent a disabled child’s heel from catching in a wheelchair wheel, to a personalised bra hook created for a client with limited mobility.

“It's a market fit issue, right? Because everyone's needs are so different, it's not like designing for the standard population…so we need to have customisable abilities in there,” said Amelia, who alongside her husband was a finalist in the 2025 Brisbane Young Entrepreneur Awards.

“It was a very long career-driven frustration. OTs do a lot of equipment prescription, but the number of times you have to sit there with a client who's just stressed because they can't do some really basic activity of daily living.

“You can picture in your head what would fix this very simply, but it doesn't exist on the market.”

As part of their offering, Ninja Allied Health also provides more than 1,000 hours of free therapy each year for people who aren’t eligible for NDIS funding and are unable to afford private health.

Clinicians spend time providing free assessments, reports and guidance to help patients navigate eligibility gaps, particularly where referrals or NDIS documentation are insufficient.

For Amelia, the desperate need for this service was a ‘holy smokes’ moment.

“We can't possibly turn some of these people away. We end up doing short letters for them and helping them just understand the situation when they come through our doors,” she explained.

“They often take a lot of time to actually get to OT. Or OT is not usually the first line of defence that GPs are recommending for a lot of people.

“They get there and they go: Hold on, you can actually help with anything. They get quite shocked.”

While the option is periodically reconsidered, the co-founders have stopped short of formal accreditation, pointing to the cost and resource intensity of the audit process.

“We keep revisiting it, but we don't feel like there's ever really a reason - our governance is phenomenal,” Amelia explained.

“I get why they have it, but it's a very expensive and laborious process during the audits that I think would just take away from our abilities.

“For example, if we're doing that, we couldn't do any of the free assessments…it'd probably be like an equal time and resource suck.”

Now operating across multiple locations in Queensland, the company plans further expansion in Brisbane and has also established a permanent presence in Perth.

“We will definitely be making sure everything runs smoothly, considering the big growth over the last couple of months,” Andy said.

“Then from there, I think growth will come by understanding better opportunities as we see them.

“Although we are now a medium-sized business, we still have the ability to see opportunities and [can] grow faster when we understand there is a big opportunity.”