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What’s New
What’snew?
SEATING MATTERS SHOWCASE NEW UPGRADES AT THE OT SHOW
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Seating Matters are following up the announcement of their Sydney GoFlat chair earlier this year with upgrades to their Phoenix and Sorrento chairs, which they will showcase at The OT Show at the end of November.
“The Seating Matters Phoenix and Sorrento chairs are used in long term care facilities, hospitals and home-care environments all over the world,” said Seating Matters director Jonathon Tierney. “Patients and caregivers tell us every day that the chairs we make change their lives. Hearing such powerful feedback really drives our business mantra of ‘Just Ask The Patient.’” “Continuous improvement is at the heart of everything we do at Seating Matters. This ethos has allowed us to make exciting upgrades to the Phoenix and Sorrento models which we’re excited to unveil for the first time at the OT Show in November.” Response to the Sydney GoFlat chair, which they launched in June of this year, has been positive: “Feedback we have heard during the field testing phase of this exciting new chair is that in addition to the many significant physical and functional benefits there have been untold mental and emotional benefits for patients. Our very first patient was in an ICU unit in Australia and her occupational therapist thought the Sydney GoFlat was a game changer in her patient’s treatment,” said Tierney. “The Sydney chair allowed this patient to engage with friends and family, spend time outside and sit in a more upright position to eat a meal. The patient commented on numerous occasions that sitting in the chair was “life changing” and ‘the highlight of her year so far.’ She loved the fact that time spent in the chair gave meaning and purpose to her day and provided a structure and routine.’” Seating Matters can be found at stand F30 at The OT Show, and Martina Tierney, OT and clinical director, will also be presenting in theatre 3 at 1.15pm on Wednesday 23, and at 2.15pm on Thursday 24 November.
THE OT SHOW IS BACK
The UK’s leading event for the occupational therapy community will return to the NEC Birmingham on 23 and 24 November, offering OTs the opportunity to network with over 3,500 of their colleagues from across the country. OTs will be able to choose from over 100 CPD-accredited interactive lectures and practical workshops covering clinical areas including governance, mental health, paediatrics, housing, moving and handling, and more, and get handson with thousands of products from the over 270 healthcare providers exhibiting at the event. They’ll also be able to visit The OT Magazine team, as we’re one of the official media partners for The OT Show, to sign up for a subscription and receive our coveted OT Magazine tote bag, visit stand D63.
Registration for the event is free. For more information about the event, visit TheOTShow.com.
BRIDGE LIT TO HONOUR OTS
Occupational therapists were celebrated across the world on October 27 in celebration of World Occupational Therapy Day, and OTs in Cheshire were honoured as the Mersey Gateway Bridge was lit up green in their honour. The 2km bridge was illuminated in the traditional bottle green that’s associated with the profession, and was organised by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as a way of saying thank you to their staff in Halton for everything they’ve done in the past year. In a tweet, Jillian Wallis, assistant director for Halton community services at the Trust, said: “To all my fellow occupational therapists and their teams I want to say, happy World OT Day! You all do an amazing job and we value your contribution…we are lighting up Mersey Gateway Bridge for you all wherever you work in whatever role”. The theme of this year’s World Occupational Therapy Day was “opportunity + choice = justice”, and OTs from across the 107 national professional organisations that represent OT shared and reflected on what this theme meant to them. “Opportunities should be accessible to all no matter of your socioeconomic, cultural, gender, [or] background,” OT Nay told us on Instagram. “You should have choice in your occupations that you choose to engage in and the accessibility and reasonable adjustments to be able to engage in them, this equals justice for all.”
NHS ESTABLISHES RAPID RESPONSE TEAM FOR FALLS
NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard has said that rapid response teams to help people who have fallen at home or in care homes will be expanded in advance of what they expect to be a “very challenging winter”. It’s hoped that expanding the service will prevent around 55,000 elderly people from needing to go to hospital as a result of falls, which they hope will help curb backlog and wait times for services. A quarter of all category three and four calls received in January of this year related to falls. Pritchard said: “Winter comes hot on the heels of an extremely busy summer – and with the combined impact of flu, COVID and record NHS staff vacancies – in many ways, we are facing more than the threat of a ‘twindemic’ this year. “So it is right that we prepare as much as possible –the NHS is going further than it ever has before in anticipation of a busy winter, and today we have set out further plans to step up these preparations – building on our existing plans to boost capacity set out in August this year. “Whether it be new services to support people who have fallen at home, hubs to treat respiratory infections, or system control centres helping us to navigate pressures across the entire country, every one of these initiatives will make a real impact on the ground – helping to relieve pressure on frontline staff as well as seeing patients quickly and directing them to where they can receive the best possible care.”
SOMERSET GP PRACTICES INTRODUCE OTS
Five primary care networks across Somerset have introduced occupational therapists into their teams, with seven OTs employed by the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust taking roles in West Somerset, Taunton, Dean West, Taunton Central, West Mendip, North Sedgemoor, and the ChardLangport-Ilminster network. The move hopes to offer patients early access to occupational therapy within Somerset, and hopes to see more OTs in GP surgeries across the area within the next two years. Speaking to the Somerset County Gazette, head of occupational therapy at the Trust Becky Keating said: “We are very pleased to be able to extend our OT service into GP practices, bringing our unique skills into the well-established teams who know their local people. “Our OTs spend their time working within our primary care network multidisciplinary teams on a range of healthcare priorities, such as enhanced health in care homes, anticipatory care, responding to health inequalities, early cancer diagnosis, cardiovascular disease, and reviewing medications. “The service is proactive rather than reactive and uses the latest technology to help us reach out to those at risk of developing long-term conditions.” She added that the OTs will be working as part of the multidisciplinary team within the primary care networks to support patients with their specific needs and goals in patients while working closely with the community and developing the innovative service.
RCOT CALLS FOR SCHOOLS TO HAVE OTS
In an open letter to the Minister for Schools, Kelly Tolhurst, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists has called for every school across the country to have access to a children’s occupational therapist. The letter, which followed a recent survey regarding children’s services, also highlights the tremendous increase in demand for paediatric OTs’ services, with RCOT reporting that 85% of OTs stating that requests for their services has increased since July of 2021, and 65% saying that children are “presenting with more complex physical, learning, and mental health needs.” RCOT’s key recommendations in their letter to the new minister to correct the “unsustainable equation” that has arisen as the need for paediatric OTs has sharply increased include streamlining and investment in equipment and adaption services to reduce delays in provision, the inclusion of OTs in school mental health teams, strong OT leadership to ensure the effective use of their skills and workforce, and that children’s OT services receive resources that meet the needs of their local community and support their children and young people. The letter concluded with a request for Tolhurst to discuss these findings with the College, and noted: “We recognise there will be many pressing issues in your new ministerial inbox, however recent statements from senior leaders in the Government about the importance of children’s services highlights that urgent action is needed.”
