Life as an occupational therapist beyond the NHS
Tess Heaffey, is an Occupational Therapist in a non-traditional OT role, working for Country Court in their Projects Department.
We're delighted Tess was able to share her experience of moving from the NHS into social care and consider the skills she was able to transfer to her new role.
You can connect with Tess on RCOT Communities.
Finding my feet in social care
I’m Tess Heaffey, an Occupational Therapist who qualified 10 years ago.
After a decade working across a range of NHS services: including the wards, A&E, and Rapid Response and Reablement. I decided to take a completely new step in August 2025 by joining Country Court.
I now work in our Projects Department, which is not your traditional OT role, but one that has opened my eyes to just how much impact OTs can have in the social care space.
Country Court is a large care group with homes stretching from North Yorkshire down to the South Coast. With more than 3,000 residents across the UK, the potential to make a difference on a much wider scale is huge.
In A&E, I often felt that my influence was limited to one referral at a time. Now, I’m in a position where, over time, I can help shape how we deliver care across an entire organisation.
What I love most about this role is how varied my days are. One moment I’m working with senior management, the next I’m meeting external partners, and then I’m out in our homes – which is easily my favourite part of the job. And honestly, if I hadn’t built the communication, problem‑solving and multitasking skills that come from years in the NHS, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do today.
I know a lot of OTs in clinical roles will say, 'I could never work corporate,' but the reality is that our skills are incredibly transferable.
Think about the typical day in an acute setting:
- managing a complex discharge
- coordinating equipment
- navigating sensitive family dynamics
- liaising with nurses, pharmacists and external teams
- rescheduling care packages
- solving unpredictable clinical problems.
All while keeping the bigger picture in mind. We do all of this instinctively, following the OT process. Those abilities are gold in a corporate environment.
One thing that really stands out to me since moving into social care is the shift from telling patients to 'potter around at home' to keep active, to now working in a world where some of our residents don’t have that same ability to naturally stay occupied.
Our wellbeing teams, care staff, hospitality teams, managers and deputies do incredible work to create meaningful activities – and I’m excited to add an OT lens to this. We know that real purposeful occupation is essential to a happy and healthy life, especially at a delicate time when someone moves into a care home.
Across the group, we’re looking at ways to uplift the quality of our care.
One big area we’re exploring is how artificial intelligence (AI) technology can support our residents. There are some phenomenal falls prevention technology out there. Our goal is to make sure these tools genuinely help residents feel safer, reassure families and make staff’s day‑to‑day work easier. It’s the kind of innovation I would never have come across in my previous NHS role.
Another project I’m involved in focuses on equipment provision alongside our Estates Department. Nationally, there’s a huge push to prevent deconditioning and keep people functionally well for as long as possible.
This aligns beautifully with the 'right support, right time' approach. As OTnews highlighted recently, 'OTs are essential to future service models' and I couldn’t agree more.
The care sector is evolving, and we have a responsibility to make sure residents have the right support, equipment and opportunities to stay independent for as long as possible.
We’ve also got some exciting plans for the summer.
Every year, our homes take part in the 'Country Court in Bloom' competition, with categories like 'Best Flower Display' and 'Best Person‑Centred Activities'.
This year, we want to introduce more functional, rehab focused elements. We’re developing resource packs for our Wellbeing teams to help promote social connection, cognitive stimulation and purposeful occupation woven naturally into the activities they already deliver.
On top of that, we’re revaluating our long-term commitment to dementia excellence. Reviewing and elevating staff training in our home environments is a major focus. With so many of our residents living with cognitive impairment or dementia diagnosis, it’s essential that both they and their families feel confident that we’re providing the very best care.
With NHS services under immense pressure, social care has such an important role to play and I’m genuinely excited about the difference I can make as an OT within this sector. I’m looking forward to the next six months and can’t wait to share how far we’ve come. I am more then happy to be contacted on RCOT Communities or via email.
