OT Tips

We spoke to occupational therapists from Sheffield to hear their tips about piloting occupational therapy primary care.

They've shared tips with you that cover practice, education, research, and leadership.

We think following them could make a big impact to spread innovation.

Tip 1. GPs need your help to understand the benefits of employing an occupational therapist. Think about how an occupational therapist would address local population health needs. Find out who could provide you with local population health data to help you craft an elevator pitch.

Tip 2. Occupational therapists have a large toolbox of skills. You need to share the richness and diversity of these skills. Think about how you can promote key messages about occupational therapy roles in primary care, key skills, and superpowers.

Tip 3. Think about your unique selling points and tailor communications to promote these for key stakeholders.

Tip 4. Case studies are an effective way to highlight occupational therapy interventions and open a conversation about impact.

Tip 5. Patients tell the best stories about the impact of occupational therapy. Think about how you can capture these to promote the impact of occupational therapy services.

Tip 6. Try generating solution-focused ideas about how a new role might complement existing services or address gaps in care. Think about designing services to address some of the biggest challenges that GPs face.

Tip 7. Don’t underestimate the power of an opportunistic conversation or a quick coffee and chat. Find innovative ways to promote your role. Networking and building connections can provide valuable insights into potential roles and the complexities of primary care delivery. It can also sow seeds ideas about occupational therapy roles. Sometimes the drip, drip effect of information exchange can be powerful.

Tip 8. The future generation of occupational therapists need to be exposed to emerging roles in primary care. Foster creative thinking and development of non-traditional posts. Inviting and hosting occupational therapy learners is a fantastic way to show test out new roles, discover the art of the possible and inspire new ways of working.

Tip 9. Hosting learners on leadership or extended scope placements can provide extra capacity, skills, and expertise for primary care networks to scope out new roles. Occupational therapy learners can collect and analyse data, engage with key stakeholders, and review literature. Learners can contribute to discussions about models of practice and help you generate a business case.

Tip 10. Build collaborations and work in partnership with other services, people, and communities.

Tip 11. Be research ready and research confident so you can take local and national opportunities as they arise. There are lots of different short courses, postgraduate education, and networking opportunities to help build your research skills.

Tip 12. Make the research process achievable, relevant, and meaningful for you. Find out what evidence already exists, review and summarise the findings tailoring the messages for your key stakeholders. Doing more with what you know about occupational therapy is an important part of knowledge mobilisation.

Tip 13. Know who you want to influence. Disseminate widely to a variety of audiences in a variety of ways, always talking about outcomes.

Tip 14. It’s important to understand how primary care works. For example, the GP contract which drives much activity has different versions across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Some of the countries also use incentivised systems such as the Quality Outcomes Framework and Impact and Investment Fund.

Tip 15. Find your allies and work together as a collective peer group to support each other. There is strength in numbers! Collective leadership is leadership of all, by all and together with all. This means moving away from the dominant command-and-control, hierarchical and pacesetting styles of many NHS leaders to a different, collaborative leadership culture.

Tip 16. It’s important for occupational therapy managers and leaders to understand the importance of human factors when creating new roles. This is especially important when looking for ways to create a space for team connectivity and fostering a sense of belonging to the team or organisation.

Tip 17. Look out for opportunities to undertake a fellowship. Fellowships provide great opportunities to learn and understand the knowledge and skills required to lead.

Tip 18. Connect via social media for an abundance of latest reports, ideas, articles, and podcasts in bite-sized chunks. Try out different social media platforms to link with other allied health professionals who also work in primary care.