Commenting on NHS England’s neighbourhood health guidelines 2025/26, Director of Practice and Innovation at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Karin Orman, said:
‘The only way to save the NHS is to adopt a more proactive approach providing treatment, care and support for people near their homes. A Neighbourhood Health Service – as long as it’s integrated, properly funded, and works efficiently – can deliver this. We welcome the requirement that rehabilitation and reablement is therapy-led, as well as the emphasis on multidisciplinary coordination of care particularly for those with complex health, care or social needs who require support from multiple services.
‘Occupational therapists must be a key component of this. As occupational therapists address mental and physical health, social care, education and housing, we are ideally placed to support adults, children and young people needing crisis or hospital care. Working closely with local populations will enable occupational therapists to help people meet their health and care needs, stay in work or education, manage their daily routines, and engage in occupations vital to their wellbeing.
‘We need the definition of multidisciplinary to go beyond doctors and nurses, and the resourcing and funding needs to be there to make this happen. Getting the occupational therapy workforce right will actually help reduce the pressures on GPs, nurses, and all other areas of the NHS, as well as helping people live well for longer.’