Karin Orman, Director of Practice and Innovation at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, said:
‘The new UK Government must prioritise the integration of occupational therapists into community settings to address pressing health and social care challenges. An occupational therapy workforce based primarily within communities, working closely with local populations to meet their health and care needs, will help people stay in work, manage their daily routines, and engage in occupations vital to their wellbeing.
‘Occupational therapy is the solution to many of the UK’s health and care needs. But we’re currently spread too thinly, with around six occupational therapists for every 10,000 people in the UK, predominantly based in inpatient services. Alarmingly, only 3% of GP surgeries have occupational therapists. This is unsustainable; our profession is in crisis with high vacancy rates.
‘The Labour Party has committed to ‘shifting resources to primary care and community services’. Their priority must be to:
-
ensure every school has access to occupational therapy so children and young people can remain in school and reach their potential.
-
position occupational therapists in multi-disciplinary community rehabilitation teams, reducing pressure on emergency health services
-
expand the number of occupational therapists in GP surgeries, helping people get support sooner, without needing an admission to hospital, and reducing the chance of their condition getting worse.
‘Our Workforce Strategy creates the path for an expanded occupational therapy workforce, positioned to have maximum impact in improving people’s health and quality of life, where it will help get waiting lists down and relieve pressure on acute services by:
-
making services more personalised and focusing on prevention
-
supporting people to be discharged from acute services
-
preventing their health conditions getting worse.’