The power of OT – transforming health and social care
Occupational therapy plays a vital role in health, social care and society. Enabling people to manage their health and care needs and to do the occupations that they want, need and like to do. An occupation isn’t just work, it’s any activity that supports physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.
It is a solution to many of the UK’s health and care needs and should be positioned in communities to focus on prevention and early intervention. By helping people manage their health, it saves money and reduces pressure on 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.
Future Predictions for Health and Social Care
The UK currently has approximately six occupational therapists per 10,000 people. The demand on our service is already stretched. By 2035:
– the population in the UK is projected to be 70 million
– two-thirds of adults aged over 65 are projected to be living with multiple health conditions
– two in five people aged 75 years or over, with an unplanned hospital admission, will die within a year – a quarter of them will spend more than a month of this precious last year in hospital.
Sources:
King’s Fund, Time to think differently
How Can Occupational Therapy Help
• Occupational therapists in Wrexham and Flintshire streamlined the referral process and clinical approach reducing the time of patients’ first assessment with a community OT to discharge from 17 weeks to on average of 9 weeks. Aligning the community OT service with the multidisciplinary teams within GP clusters meant the service was easier to access with reduced waiting times and improved patient outcomes.
• Occupational therapists in the Northwich Primary Care Network set up a service to help those with memory concerns. Those assessed by an occupational therapist were diagnosed on average 45 days earlier and the number of inappropriate referrals was reduced. The number of occupational therapists in the primary care network has risen from zero to three since 2022.
• Multidisciplinary teams involving occupational therapists in Somerset are using AI to identify individuals at risk of unplanned hospital admissions. Those identified can then be invited to take part in an OT assessment. Pilots have successfully reduced resident falls by 35%, attendances to Emergency Departments by 60% and ambulance callouts by 8.7%.
• The Lanarkshire primary care occupational therapy service established a blended delivery model in 2017, offering online, phone, home, community and in-person consultations. Users of the service, which supports individuals facing functional decline due to physical or mental health issues, reported 86% improved function, 94% greater satisfaction with roles, and 93% improved mental wellbeing. Additionally, 60% of users required fewer GP appointments, increasing primary care capacity through OT interventions.
• In Northern Ireland, three occupational therapists working as mental health practitioners in GP surgeries [as part of a multidisciplinary team] are improving lives and driving efficiencies in primary care. In three months, they provided over 6,000 consultations in the Causeway GP Federation area. This resulted in 97% of patients surveyed being very satisfied or satisfied. With the local adult community mental health teams also reporting a 43% reduction in referral rates.
#OTWeek2024
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