Occupational therapy workforce strategy action plan – Cymru-Wales

• We will support occupational therapy practitioners to be changemakers, using their skills and knowledge to lead and co-design innovative products, interventions and services that improve people’s lives and wellbeing.
• We will champion innovative service delivery models that improve access to occupational therapy and achieve health equity for all.

We will support the embedding of the new Welsh Professional Framework for Enhanced, Advanced and Consultant Clinical Practice - HEIW (nhs.wales). This framework aims to increase the number of occupational therapy practitioners working in enhanced, advanced and extended roles within primary, rehabilitation and care settings for children, young people and families.

We will work with members to develop a communication strategy for the OT workforce across Wales to share key information about development opportunities available.

We will work with employers to develop job descriptions that meet enhanced, advanced and clinical practice framework.

Having a baseline understanding of the size and nature of OT practitioners working at enhanced, advanced and consultant levels of practice. This will allow us to monitor growth against.

Number of users downloading and interacting with the co-developed communications on our webpages. We track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

Number of users downloading and interacting with job descriptions made available on our digital channels. We track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

We will work with the Welsh AHP network to share information and promote different models of practice, challenging practitioners to think and work differently.

We will work with our members to use the Innovation hub as a digital platform to build knowledge and confidence to drive innovation and demonstrate the impact of occupational therapy.

We will work with ORiENT to support our members to grow the real-world and research evidence for their practice.

Number of case studies, improvement journeys and impact stories collected from our members, stakeholders and partners.

Quarterly summaries of evidence trends and gaps from improvement journeys.

Number of improvement journeys from the Innovation hub shared with key stakeholders including Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), NHS Wales, Social Care Wales, Public Health Wales and Council of Occupational Therapy Education Directors.

We will work with Welsh education and informatics providers to develop education and training modules that empower the occupational therapy workforce to use data for effective workforce planning, service improvement and workforce transformation.

We will gather and share provider-level case studies that illustrate the value of occupational therapy within needs-led pathways rather than condition-specific pathways. For example, the value of occupational therapy in a person’s journey from acute care to community support, including interventions by local authorities and housing teams.

Number of users downloading and accessing resources on our digital platforms designed for the evaluation of the economic, social and experiential impact of occupational therapy . We track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

Number of improvement journeys shared with professional and practice networks including the Allied Health Professions network, Occupational Therapy Advisory Forum and leadership forums in Wales.

Number of improvement journeys at national events including the Welsh allied health professions and RCOT’s Annual Conference.

Number of case studies, improvement journeys and impact stories cited in publications by stakeholders and partners in Wales.

We will influence Welsh employers to adopt a framework of universal, targeted and specialist service provision, with proportionate distribution across these levels to enable people to access the right help at the right time, in the right place and delivered by the right workforce.

We will work with strategic AHP leaders in Wales to identify and amplify exemplary workforce and service transformation initiatives.

Number of meetings with health boards, local councils and regional partnership boards.

Number of improvement journey submissions from employers that have adopted the universal, targeted and specialist framework.

Number of submissions to HEIW’s leadership portal, Gwella.

We will support the occupational therapy workforce to harness the assistive technologies and digital healthcare assets available locally, to help people manage their own health and social care needs.

We will work with the occupational therapy workforce in Wales to identify and explore opportunities for AI and digital technologies in the delivery of rehabilitation, primary care and children, young people and family services. This includes identifying outcome measures for our role in this space.

We will work with housing providers to design and deliver affordable housing for the populations of Wales in line with the seven goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFGA, 2015).

We will collect and share examples of occupational therapy practitioners involved in the design of new and repurposed housing stock.

Number of users accessing our briefings on assistive technologies, digital healthcare and artificial intelligence. We track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

Number of occupational therapy practitioners employed in rehabilitation, primary care and children, young people and family services and who use AI and digital healthcare solutions in their practice. We measure this via our tri-annual workforce survey and scoping review of AI.

Having an outcome measure that is being used to communicate the value of occupational therapy in the AI and digital healthcare space.

Number of examples of how occupational therapy was involved in the design of new and repurposed housing stock.

• We will build our real-world and research evidence for occupational therapy to justify investment in the occupational therapy workforce by quantifying the impact.
• We will work with our leaders to put the case for how and where to deploy our expertise to add the most value for people and their families, the wider health and social care system and to avoid critical shortages within the occupational therapy workforce.

We will support the occupational therapy workforce in Wales to modernise its practice in line with policy drivers and priorities.

We will empower the occupational therapy workforce in Wales to develop arguments for investment in the services they are employed by.

We will work with employers to spread the adoption of our quality audit tool for children’s services in Wales.

Numbers of users engaging with resources by members, partners and stakeholders.

Number of services reporting misalignment between policy direction and realities of delivery. We will track this via our tri-annual workforce survey.

Number of members in Wales using templates and resources from our digital Innovation hub designed to build cases for change. We will track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

Number and themes of cases for change in development on the digital Innovation hub.

Number of cases presented in our idea clinics and the adoption of them by systems.

Number of examples included in national and regional reports by our members, partners and stakeholders.

Number of adopted recommendations from improvement journeys by our partners and stakeholders.

Number of stakeholders and partners who adopt and spread examples and recommendations from improvement journey submissions to our Innovation hub.

Number of improvement journey recommendations that have led to financial investment as reported by our members.

Number of employers using the quality audit tool for children, young people and family services in Wales.

Number of national campaigns supported to raise awareness and understanding of the Primary Care Model for Wales.

Number of influential meetings attended to influence direction and impact of national campaigns.

Number of stories of our members promoting the value of occupational therapy with the general public. These will be collected via bespoke digital channels created including those for annual OT Week.

We will work with stakeholders and leaders to develop a standardised approach to demonstrating the value and impact of occupational therapy. This will help us argue for investment that will enable us to grow within primary care, community rehabilitation and children, young people and family settings.

We will scope and understand the role of occupational therapy practitioners using the fit note in Wales.

We will amplify the impact of occupational therapy in helping people attain or regain good work when OTs are employed in occupational health, vocational rehabilitation and primary care services.

We will highlight how we reduce people’s experience of health inequalities by keeping them in productive life roles.

Number of workshops with stakeholders and leaders to explore opportunities for a standardised approach to demonstrating our value and communicating our impact.

The contexts we will prioritise are primary care, community rehabilitation and children, young people and family settings.

Number of users accessing baseline data and insights on the role of OT in relation to fit notes in Wales.

Number of improvement journeys from occupational therapists working in occupational health, vocational rehabilitation and primary care settings submitted to our Innovation hub.

Number of annual events held on the theme of occupational therapy workforce. This includes our workforce reform workshops which build on our 2021/22 workforce summits.

Number of occupational therapy poster and presenter submissions to the national AHP conference in Wales.

• We will support and promote the development of all occupational therapy practitioners, especially those from historically marginalised and under-represented communities, to be where they want to be at each stage in their career.
• We will build our profession’s capacity, confidence and capability to incorporate leadership, learning, research and innovation into practice.

We will work with employers and education providers to increase the range of practice-based learning opportunities provided to grow a modern occupational therapy workforce.

We will work with employers to encourage the embedding of practice-based learning facilitation within performance appraisal and development review processes and procedures.

We will support and participate in national evaluations of practice-based learning provision.

Number of meetings with employers and education providers to discuss the range of practice-based learning opportunities offered.

Number of meetings with employers to discuss the embedding of practice-based learning facilitation within performance appraisal and development review processes and procedures.

Number of national evaluations of practice-based learning provision we engaged in.

We will collaborate with employers and stakeholders to develop national principles for preceptorships and continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities in Wales.

We will support the implementation of the 2023 Continuous professional development (CPD) strategy for the NHS Wales healthcare Workforce.

Number of workshops held with employers and stakeholders to develop national principles for preceptorships and CPD opportunities in Wales.

Number of occupational therapy submissions to consultations about CPD and preceptorships.

Number of members in Wales engaging with the 2023 CPD strategy for the NHS Wales healthcare workforce.

We will work with education providers and HEIW to shape, modernise and enhance training standards including for the educator workforce in Wales.

We will work with employers, education providers and HEIW to align occupational therapy education programmes with service needs to sustain a graduate workforce that is ready for employment today and tomorrow.

We will work with education providers to understand the current position and needs of our academic educator workforce. This will help us build the case to expand the capacity and capability of educators in delivering pre-registration and post-registration occupational therapy education programmes.

Number of academic educators who respond to our scoping of their needs and the number and quality of themes from their responses.

Number of workshops with employers, education providers and HEIW to modernise, shape, enhance and align education provision with service needs.

We will update our supervision guidance with implementation tools to build the confidence and capability of the occupational therapy workforce to engage in and benefit from supervision.

We will work with our multiprofessional colleagues in primary care settings to help them provide personalised, effective supervision to occupational therapy practitioners.

Number and demographics of users engaging with our updated supervision guidance on our digital channels. We track these using analytics of our digital channels.

Number of meetings with employers in Wales to spread the adoption of our supervision guidance and implementation tools.

Number of workshops with multiprofessional primary care colleagues to increase capacity and capability for supervision to occupational therapy practitioners. Number of multiprofessional colleagues attending these workshops.

We will work with employers to evaluate how the CDF is used to facilitate career mobility across statutory, private and independent, charity, voluntary and social enterprise sectors.

Number of workshops with members and employers to spread adoption of the CDF.

Number of stories from members who have benefitted from applying the CDF in their career. We will also track the distribution of stories across career levels and employment sectors.

• We will empower the OT workforce to contribute to, access and use the workforce planning data and intelligence available to them.
• We will empower the occupational therapy workforce to use the data and intelligence to make informed decisions about their positioning within the health and social care system.

We will work with employers, NHS Wales and Social Care Wales to standardise how the occupational therapy workforce and their areas of practice are coded on workforce data dashboards.

We will establish sharing arrangements with workforce data owners in Wales including private and independent providers.

We will share workforce data, intelligence and tools with our members and stakeholders using our digital channels.

We will produce a baseline understanding of the workforce data in Wales using freedom of information requests. We will publish this baseline to our leaders and members in Wales.

We will collect and draw on data through our workforce survey, membership database and workforce maps to understand the size, distribution, career levels and skills mix of the occupational therapy workforce.

We will work with employers and stakeholders to identify and promote effective workforce planning resources to our members.

We will work with Welsh stakeholders to signpost our members and partners to resources that support access, use and application of workforce data.

Number and quality of engagement with workforce data and planning resources on our digital channels. We will track these using the analytics of our digital channels.

Number of users downloading and accessing our webpage on workforce data, intelligence, resources and tools. We track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

Number of users downloading and accessing our State of the OT Workforce in Wales webpage. We track this via the analytics of our digital channels.

We will gather and share examples on our digital channels of workforce models and skills configurations that have improved outcomes for people, teams and systems.

We will work with employers to provide training on job planning, job evaluation and other relevant and current workforce productivity optimisation tools.

Number and quality of engagement with the examples shared on our digital channels of workforce models and skills configurations that have improved outcomes for people, teams and systems. We will track this using the analytics of our digital channels.

Number of workshops with employers and stakeholders to agree a workforce planning methodology that can be adopted at all levels of our systems.

Number of training workshops with employers and members on job planning, job evaluation and other relevant and current workforce productivity optimisation tools.