It’s been an exciting year for occupational therapy and RCOT!
In March, we launched our first Workforce Strategy and set up a Scotland Advisory Group to develop a Scotland-specific action plan.
If you are interested in hearing more about the development of our Workforce Strategy action plan – Scotland, please contact me – Katie MacGregor – at katie.macgregor@rcot.co.uk.
This OT Week, we're kicking off a 12-month campaign to build on our Workforce Strategy with excellent resources to advocate for the profession.
Sharing professional insights with leaders and other changemakers through stories is incredibly impactful and supports connection with our profession.
Our Workforce Strategy shows the cost-saving benefits of occupational therapy, a vital yet underutilised tool in health and social care.
Hear from Jill Pritchard, a member of our Scotland Advisory Group, on the community role and impact of occupational therapists on housing and cost saving.
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The role of occupational therapists working in the community is a critical one, and covers a wide range of interventions including treatment, rehabilitation, enablement, housing solutions and much more.
I work with people who are experiencing a wide range of housing needs. We work closely with colleagues in housing associations, local authorities and owner occupier/private lets. We also work in an integrated way with our health and social care partners.
We prevent hospital admission, support hospital discharge, enable discharge from long-term care and from long-stay hospital wards.
I support a wide range of people – from children to older people – and all types of health/disability challenges – physical and mental health, learning disability, cognitive and sensory, and increasingly a wide variety of neurodiversity challenges and complex needs.
As housing OTs, we prevent hospital admission, support hospital discharge, enable discharge from long-term care and from long-stay hospital wards.
Stories that show our impact
The right home environment can reduce the need for other health and social care interventions and support physical, mental health and wellbeing by enabling maximum participation in meaningful activities.
Here are two stories which show not only the difference that we can make to someone’s life, but also how we reduce pressure on other services and save money:
Mr A's accessible home
An occupational therapist supported Mr A to move from hospital into a ground-floor, wheelchair-accessible, property.
In his previous home, he couldn’t get into the kitchen or bathroom and needed carers. In his new accessible home, once the OT had adapted his shower room, he was able to carry out all his selfcare needs himself.
He no longer needed the four home care visits – a saving of over £16k a year.
Mr B leaves a care home
Mr B had to go into hospital after a health crisis. Unfortunately, his home couldn’t be adapted to his needs so he couldn’t return. Instead, once he was discharged, he moved into a care home. He stayed there for six months before being referred to the housing occupational therapist.
After carrying out an assessment, his OT found a suitable ground-floor accessible property. It only needed a ceiling track hoist installed and was ready in six months. He now only needs one carer to assist with hoisting.
Being independent in his new home meant a saving of over £42,000 on residential care home costs.
Streamlining pathways
Occupational therapists working in social care and local authorities often support people in this way.
OTs embedded in housing services means we can improve and streamline pathways and greatly enhance local partnerships across health, social care and housing organisations.
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Jill’s reflections clearly show how occupational therapists can save money and reduce pressure on other parts of the system.
Do you have similar stories that you can share to raise the profile of occupational therapy?
We’ve developed a profile-raising toolkit for you to use to do just that.
The more stories we have and the more people using our toolkit will mean more people learning about the life-changing power of occupational therapy and its role in transforming health and social care.
To all the occupational therapists working tirelessly across the country, I’d like to thank you for all that you do. You continue to inspire the profession and deliver quality care to the people you serve and the systems you work in.
Let’s continue to work together to raise the profile so that everyone values the power of occupational therapy. Happy OT week to you all.