RCOT Annual Conference 2022 – highlights from day two

From July 2022, occupational therapists in Scotland, Wales and England will be able to sign what is currently called the GP Fit Note, with occupational therapists in Northern Ireland ‘highly likely’ to be following suit.

And in a lively session on the imminent changes to the ‘Fit Note’, occupational therapists were urged to ask themselves three key questions around their role and scope of practice within this area of practice.

RCOT Professional Adviser Genevieve Smyth said: ‘It’s really good news… and this change compliments the wider direction of travel within health and care systems by supporting a more multidisciplinary workforce to provide better, faster access to care.’

Speakers Dr Jain Holmes, Senior Research Fellow, RETAKE and ROWTATE Studies, and Chair of the RCOT Specialist Section – Work, and Lisa Harrison, Occupational Therapist and Director of Rehab Jigsaw, went on to talk about their current work in this area and the main differences between the AHP Health and Work Report and GP Fit Notes were discussed.

They then went on to analyse what this means for the occupational therapy profession and how individuals might boost their skills in this area and get the confidence boost needed to ‘step boldly’ into this leading-edge opportunity.

‘Some of the key selling points for us [as occupational therapists] in this area are our ability to problem solve and really get into the nitty gritty of what are some of the barriers people face,’ Genevieve said, before adding: ‘And, from a practical point of view, how can we make recommendations and suggestions about how we get over those barriers and get the person back into work?’

Delegates were told that the first question needs to be, is this part of my current job role? The second question is, is this part of my scope of practice? And third question is, do I feel confident and able to take this on and how do I develop additional skills?

However, Jain stressed that this is going to be a ‘gradual change’, and that most fit notes over the next few years are likely to completed by GPs still. This gives the occupational therapy profession time to test the system and learn from each other to develop best practice.

When it comes to individuals boosting their skills, Lisa Harrison suggested that individuals look for opportunities to shadow or observe other occupational therapists already doing vocational or return to work assessments.  

Also, to seek out opportunities to discuss cases with other occupational therapists working in this area to talk about how they assess and identify barriers and use outcome measures.

The Department for Work and Pensions will release guidance and eLearning when the legislation changes in July. This will support conversations with your employer and whether this is relevant to your role.  

RCOT and the RCOT Specialist Section – Work also have a wealth of resources available. Find out more about the support we can offer on the website or follow @RCOT_Gen or @RCOT_Work on Twitter.

At the end of a fantastic two days of, learning, debating, discussing and connecting, RCOT Chief Executive Steve Ford closed the 45th Annual Conference by thanking delegates for their ‘engagement, enthusiasm, participation and positivity’, and everyone who contributed to making this event such a success.  

He said: ‘This time last year was my first conference, and people were saying to me, Steve we want stronger leadership from RCOT. We want better understanding, more communication, more noise about occupational therapy.  

‘We want an increased sense of inclusion and a stronger focus on EDB. We want to have greater clarity about the benefits of membership and a sense that membership is relevant to us.  

‘And there was a sense that RCOT needed to modernise, be less London centric and to be more in touch with its members and the issues and challenges that you face.’

Reflecting on January’s collective launch of our new strategy, vision, values and brand, he went on to pledge that ‘the new RCOT will be an exciting place to be’ and that ‘we will be the advocate and champion that occupational therapists deserve.’

He said, ‘we will be a forward-looking organisation, which shares and celebrates powerful outcomes, leads the profession forward boldly, and is proudly and actively inclusive.’

Exclaiming, ‘now is the time for occupational therapy,’ he went on to say: ‘There are so many opportunities [and] the need for occupational therapy at this stage in health and social care is crucial, so it’s vital that we’re able to step up and deliver the change that people want to see.’
 
Thinking about our five-year strategy, and the ‘Rise Up’ promise to increase our profile and form collaborative alliances to benefit occupational therapy, he said: ‘I hope you’ve seen the changes here, where we‘re trying to be much more confident, engaging and inclusive through social media.’

Sharing RCOT’s current focus on tackling the estimated ‘1 in 10’ vacancy rates for occupational therapy posts and growing our future workforce, he added: ‘There’s a recognition that we can’t be waiting for all of these new learners to qualify and march over the hill and save us.’  

He went on: ‘We need to think about occupational therapy as a really valuable resource that needs to be targeted and focused where it has maximum impact. So, increasingly, you’ll be hearing more from RCOT about working with local services to think about, how we use that scarce resource in the most effective way to have the maximum impact?  

‘How do we organise our services? How do we learn from each other and share best practice?’ The overarching message was that we need to use our expertise effectively.

On the theme ‘Open Up’, he said that we want to make sure we’re engaging with our members more often and more meaningfully, and to expand our work with public contributors and expand the pool of members who can act as RCOT representatives.

For ‘Lift Up’ he talked about the ‘exciting work’ planned for 2022 around revitalising our offer for members and supporting future and current occupational therapists’ success. And then he talked about ‘Build Up’, which will create a values-led culture that empowers our people to thrive.
 
Changing tack, he moved on to think about the future and reflect on scenario planning, and he asked delegates: ‘What are you all going to be doing in 2040?’  
 
Referencing students and newly qualified occupational therapists – and the education providers currently training them – he challenged people to think about the year 2040, as ‘you will be at the peak of your careers and leadership roles… and yet we know 2040 will be such a different world than now.’

Six significant drivers are set to shape our world, he stressed: demography, climate change, the workforce, the gig economy, privatisation and technology.

‘As a profession,’ he concluded, ‘we need to bring together those people who can envisage the future and identify these trends and work together so we can get on the front foot of this, and we can be these people using these changes as opportunities for us to position ourselves to have maximum impact.’  

His final message was a simple yet rousing ‘join us in making it happen.’