Latest news, features and new publications
Skilled workforce urgently needed to support people with mental health problems into work
January 6th, 2009 15:03PM
Government needs to take concerted action to build a workforce that can support its ambitious plans to help people with mental health problems to get and keep work, according to a paper published today by Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and the College of Occupational Therapists.
Vocational Rehabilitation: what is it, who can deliver it and who pays? argues that the UK has a serious shortage of people with the skills they need to offer expert help, both to people who need support to stay in their jobs and to those who want to get jobs. Unless we invest now in people to deliver expert support, the Government's ambition to help millions of people with mental health problems to work will not be achieved.
The paper argues that both taxpayers and employers gain from vocational rehabilitation and that both should pay for it. The Government has acknowledged this in its strategy for health and work, which includes both support for employers to promote mental health at work and for the NHS to do more to keep people in work when they become unwell.
Download Vocational Rehabilitation: what is it, who can deliver it and who pays?
Calling all Occupational Therapy Technicians and Assistants (OTTAs)
November 25, 2008 11:00AM
BAOT is setting up an email bulletin network specifically for all OT support staff and technicians. Join our free email network and you could be receiving regular bulletins from BAOT including information on BAOT events, CPD items and other topics of interest to OT support staff across the UK.
- Email Lesley.Bridges@cot.co.uk the associate members officer to be included in the bulletin network.
Work Matters
The College of Occupational Therapists' Vocational Rehabilitation Strategy
November 18, 2008 10:30AM
The College of Occupational Therapists is proud to announce the launch of its vocational rehabilitation strategy.
The publication presents the strategic goals that will steer the College and its members for the next three years, to
- Ensure service users, employees and employers have access to occupational therapy within all vocational rehabilitation services.
- Promote good practice, guidance and information so that service users and employees who wish to return to, remain in or take up work receive high quality, evidenced based occupational therapy.
- Support the continued development of an occupational therapy workforce that is fit for the future and able to meet the challenges of the Government';s health and wellbeing policies.
The document is available to BAOT members and non-members as a free download and hard copies will be available soon. Click here to be redirected to our free downloadable publications.
Work with the College to support the successful implementation of recent NICE recommendations on promoting the wellbeing of older people
November 4, 2008 11:00AM
'Occupational therapy interventions and physical activity interventions to promote the mental wellbeing of older people in primary care and residential care.'
The College of Occupational Therapists welcomes this new public health guidance, published on the 22 October 2008 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The guidance links the importance of physical activity to the mental wellbeing of older people and demonstrates the key role occupational therapists play in supporting and enabling older people to lead fulfilling lives.
The College wants to work with all occupational therapists to draw on research, education and practice experts to develop resources to support the successful implementation of the recommendations.
Share your ideas for implementing this guidance and find out more
'The value of occupational therapy and its contribution to adult social service users and their carers' - a new position statement from the College of Occupational Therapists
October 22, 2008 1:00PM
The College of Occupational Therapists (COT) believes that occupational therapists make a difference to the lives of those receiving services from social care agencies and add value to the current reforms within social care. Our new position statement 'The value of occupational therapy and its contribution to adult social service users and their carers' includes occupational therapists' commitments and advice for senior managers in social care organisations. The position statement has been released to coincide with the Director of Social Services conference.
Download 'The value of occupational therapy' position statement
Download press release - 'The value of occupational therapy'
Occupational Therapy in Adult Social Care in England
Sustaining a high quality workforce for the future
October 22, 2008 9:00Am
The report is the result of partnership working between the Department of Health and College of Occupational Therapists (COT). It was commissioned in 2007 in light of the Options for Excellence workforce review. It reflects the recognised need to build an occupational therapy social care workforce for the future by improving opportunities for student placements and supporting newly qualified staff.
The report is a useful tool to promote dialogue locally. It proposes next steps to enable innovative solutions that support service transformation and deliver sustainable outcomes for service users and carers.
Careers Handbook 2009/10
June 25, 2008 9:10 AM
The Careers Handbook is a comprehensive guide to studying occupational therapy in the United Kingdom. It contains valuable information about the profession, working life and how to choose the right course.
Saving the day centre
June 16, 2008 10:45 AM
Peter Beresford and BAOT member Wendy Bryant have written a piece for The Guardian on the role of day centres within mental health services.
Visit The Guardian and read 'Saving the day centre'
News and issues from Annual Conference 2008
June 12, 2008 10:45 AM
Each day we are publishing updates on the latest news from Annual Conference including summaries of key speeches and discussions.
- Maxmise new opportunities, members told
- Self promotion: are we doing enough?
- Health service commissioners' priorities are dominant
- Occupational therapy rooted in our shared humanity
- Members urged to use blogs and social networks
- When is an occupational therapist not an occupational therapist?
- Palliative care referrals occurring too late
- Take the bill by the horns, OTs told
- OTs will work with more HIV+ patients
- Palliatice care: a postcode lottery?
- CPD - your responsibility to stay registered
- Is sexuality part of the OT's role?
- Big challenges working abroad - and returning home
- OTs should not feel threatened by the introduction of the trusted assessor role
- OTs suited to case management
UNISON health members vote to accept pay offer
June 06, 2008 10:45 AM
64.91% of UNISON health members have voted in favour of accepting a 3-year pay offer worth 8.1%. The union carried out an individual postal ballot of its 452,000 members working in the NHS including nurses, paramedics, occupational therapists, porters, midwives, health care assistants, technical, admin, cleaning, security and catering staff over the deal that will establish a new NHS minimum wage of £6.77 in year 2. This result means that UNISON and the RCN, the two largest NHS Trade Unions, have now endorsed the multi-year agreement.
Allied Health Professions make unique contribution to health and well-being
May 29, 2008 10:45 AM
The Allied Health Professions (AHPs) met Professor the Lord Darzi KBE, Parlimentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, to contribute towards 'Our NHS, Our Future'. This event provided an opportunity for Allied Health Professionals to promote their unique contributions to health and well-being service delivery.
'AHPs as Integrators of Care' is the report which resulted from this event. It is a composite of the conversations and exemplars of innovative AHP practice discussed on the day. Additionally, it identifies the key messages about the substantial contribution that all the AHPs already make and the untapped potential within this highly skilled workforce to deliver a much greater impact across the whole health and well being economy.
Download AHPs as Integrators of Care (379KB
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Position Statement on Transforming Community Equipment Services
April 28, 2008 11:35 AM
A review of equipment services has been carried out by the Care Services Efficiency Delivery programme (CSED). Transforming Community Equipment Services (TCES) was developed as a result of this review. It aims to give everyone more choice and control over the services they receive and to give people who pay for themselves (i.e. self-funders) the help, advice and information they need when selecting and using equipment. TCES will not change the way users and carers who need state support are assessed. It will, however, provide greater opportunities for occupational therapists to support and enable people, especially those who are not entitled to help from the state sector. The College has produced a position statement in response to the TCES.
Download the Position Statement on Transforming Community Equipment Services (88KB*)
New Publication - Health Promotion Sample Download
April 9, 2008 11:35 AM
The College is pleased to announce the publication of Health promotion in occupational therapy, a valuable new resource highlighting the links between occupation and health and between occupational therapy and health promotion. For a sample of what to expect please download the Health Promotion Extract. (754KB *)
College of Occupational Therapists Pre-registration Education Standards
March 5, 2008 15:05 PM
The College is pleased to announce the publication of a revised edition of its Pre-registration Education Standards, which have been developed to serve as dynamic quality indicators against which the College of Occupational Therapists can judge an individual programme’s suitability for professional body accreditation. The standards support and facilitate the development of an occupational therapy curriculum, leading to approval by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, and are suitable to meet the requirements of the regulatory and statutory bodies in the United Kingdom. They cover four main areas:
- Programme management and resources standards;
- Curriculum standards;
- Learning, teaching and assessments standards;
- Quality assurance and monitoring standards.
New Ways of Working in Mental Health
January 11, 2008 09:45 AM
This Department of Health initiative provides the future model of service provision for all members of the multidisciplinary team. This PowerPoint presentation explains the background to the project and the implications for Occupational Therapy.
Download a powerpoint presentation about NWW and Occupational Therapy (135KB*)
New publication: Vocational navigation for occupational therapy staff
January 4, 2008 17:40
Work matters: vocational navigation for occupational therapy staff is the result of a collaboration between the College of Occupational Therapists and the National Social Inclusion Programme. It is aimed at occupational therapists and other allied health professionals and provides good practice guidance to support their work with people on their journeys to employment. It outlines some of the barriers and how occupational therapists can work with people to identify and tackle these. It also introduces some ideas on engaging with people around work issues and signposts readers to useful sources of information and potential partner organisations.
Exhibition, Exhibitor Workshop and Sponsorship Opportunities at Harrogate 2008
January 3, 2007 10:14
If you would like to reach senior managers, practitioners, a large number of occupational therapists and students at Annual Conference 2008, please download the Annual Conference and Exhibition prospectus (1.17MB*). The prospectus outlines details about the exhibition, sponsorship opportunities and exhibitor workshops at the College's 32nd Annual Conference and Exhibition at Harrogate.
Annual Review 2006-2007
December 19, 2007 5:30 PM
The Annual Review 2006-2007 is now available to either view online or download. Covering the period from the 1st October 2006 to 30th September 2007 the Review charts our progress against five key strategic aims.
