This year in Occupational Therapy (OT) Week – 4–10 November – the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) will be celebrating the power of occupational therapy in transforming health and social care. The campaign aims to create a better understanding of occupational therapy, its role in health and social care, and how the occupational therapy workforce needs to be positioned in the future.
Occupational therapists around the UK are planning events to talk to their health and social care colleagues about the life-changing power of occupational therapy and how it fits into the wider health and social care systems.
Occupational therapy plays a vital role in health, social care and society. It enables people to have fulfilling lives at home, at work, at school, and everywhere else, through meaningful occupations – any activity that supports physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Occupational therapists consider all aspects of an individual and their environments and work with them to create a plan to reach their goals.
Journalist Melanie Reid, who received occupational therapy after a horse-riding accident, is supporting the launch of the campaign. She says:
‘When you have a spinal injury, it's like a nuclear explosion in your body. Everything is blown apart. Your body, your life, your family's lives, your emotional life, your practical life, your sexual life. Occupational therapists helped put me back together and taught me how to live again. They showed me that I could learn to use my hands again; I could cook, eat and drink and dress myself.
‘You have no idea what skills lie in occupational therapy: “This room can be rearranged to make it function for a wheelchair. That chair isn't going to work because my patient isn’t going to be able to transfer to sit on it safely. The light switches are too high up, my patient won't be able to reach those.” They are trained and they have this amazing eye to see how to adapt an environment and make it suitable. I couldn’t have learnt what I did without the occupational therapists. They’re right at the top in helping people live again. Occupational therapists can give you the practical and environmental tools and the knowledge to make your environment work for you, so that you can have a life again.’
Occupational therapy is often misunderstood and undervalued, even among other health and social care professionals. Anyone working within health and social care or children’s education are encouraged to get involved with OT Week and learn more about occupational therapy. They can speak to their occupational therapist colleagues about what they do and ask them questions about the role occupational therapy plays in transforming health and social care.
Karin Orman, Director of Practice and Innovation at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, says:
‘Occupational therapy means people can manage their own health and care needs to do the occupations that they want, need and like to do.
‘We want to see more of the occupational therapy workforce in communities – in schools, GP surgeries, housing and social care teams – to focus on prevention and early intervention. And by helping people manage their health before they reach crisis point, the NHS will save money and there will be less pressure across health and social care services.
‘Occupational therapy is key to many people’s better futures and must be included in the strategic planning and allocation of resources to manage health, education, housing and care needs in the UK.’
This year, OT Week kick-starts a year-long campaign to help raise the profile of the power of occupational therapy in transforming health and social care.