This week we're celebrating National Occupational Therapy (OT) Week. OT Week is organised by the Royal College of Occupational Therapy (RCOT). 

RCOT have launched a campaign about the benefits of prevention and early intervention. It is proven that, when used correctly, Occupational Therapists have the power to help reduce the number of patients who reach crisis point and help them get home sooner when they do.

Occupational Therapist and Ageing Well Practitioner, Michelle Sykes' daily work helps to support prevention and early intervention. She completes holistic comprehensive assessments and delivers interventions and education which enable patients to live as independently and as healthy as possible whilst remaining socially active within their local community. This then helps reduce pressure on our more acute services.

Michelle said: "Part of the ageing well role is to proactively seek out patients who are at rising risk of frailty, though not generally known to services within health and social care. By providing early intervention patients are more informed to make decisions which can help them age well, within their own home for as long as possible, doing the things they enjoy and hopefully remaining socially active within their local communities."

The philosophy of OT focuses on the importance of seeing people as, ‘occupational beings’, Michelle brings this into her work by gaining a full understanding of a patients interests, passions and priorities in life to make sure her work focuses on these things to ensure the best outcomes for the patient, so they can live their life in a way that is important to them.

We also have OTs working hard in the following areas to achieve this:

• Acute therapy services (ward based, frailty team and ED), where OTs support in facilitating safe and timely discharges.
• Stroke therapy teams, who work collaboratively across inpatients and early supported discharge services to ensure people receive early rehabilitation within their own homes.
• Urgent Community Response Team (UCR) where OTs, along with the wider team, support patients to remain safe in their own home, avoid hospital admissions and support timely discharges.
• Community services and intermediate care, where OTs provide rehabilitation to patients but also focus on education and prevention to reduce longer term decline. This is seen within the long Covid clinics and falls prevention groups run within the community teams.
• Our children’s OT team work with those who have a physical, functional or coordination difficulty that impacts on their activities of daily living at home or at school (for example dressing, writing, playing, eating). They enable children to reach their maximum developmental potential and gain independence in performing daily living activities. With the right support at the right time, OT helps children thrive, reach their potential and live their best lives.

Clinical Educator, Jessica Loxam, said: "Thank you to all our Occupational Therapists and Therapy Assistants this Occupational Therapy Week. Your dedication, compassion, and expertise make a profound difference in the lives of our patients every single day and play a vital role within our acute hospital trust."

Here’s a video of our OT’s making a difference: A day in the life of an occupational therapist