Useful terminology and language
Workforce Strategy useful terminology and language
- Academic workforce refers to occupational therapists teaching and/or engaged in research at a higher education institute.
- Community services refers to services offered in people’s home environment or within community facilities, clinics and schools. The services may be provided by the NHS, social care, voluntary and private sector providers.
- Data and intelligence. Data refers to the measurements or statistics that can inform analysis. Intelligence is drawn from the collection, evaluation, collation, interpretation, and analysis of the available data and information on the occupational therapy workforce, demographic need and system requirements.
- Educator workforce refers to occupational therapists that lead, co-ordinate or support student learning within the organisation they are employed by.
- Health and care system describes a system consisting of all organisations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain the health and wellbeing of its populations. We’ve used system as shorthand for health and care system in the Workforce Strategy at times.
- Hospital and acute emergency care refers to medical and mental health emergency and inpatient hospital services.
- Independent occupational therapy providers describe occupational therapists working outside of statutory services as either sole traders, companies, not for profit organisations and contractors.
- Innovation is a process of creating and implementing new or significantly improved products, services, processes, or ideas that bring about positive change and provide value to individuals, organisations, or society.
- Occupational justice focuses on the right of every person to engage in a diverse range of meaningful occupations.
- Occupational therapy practitioner refers to occupational therapists, support workers and occupational therapy learners and is applicable to practitioners in all roles at every career level.
- Occupational therapy workforce is the collective term for occupational therapists, support workers and learners.
- Portfolio career comprises a variety of roles rather than one job at a single organisation.
- Practice refers to all areas that occupational therapy practitioners work in from clinical, management and leadership, education, research, charity, business and industry.
- Primary care refers to the services that provide the first point of contact in the healthcare system.
- Quantitative, qualitative and demographic characteristics of the workforce include: the number of practitioners, their distribution across pillars of practice and career levels, their demographic characteristics and their subjective experiences of their employment across statutory, charity and private/independent economic sectors.
- Real world evidence is derived from the analysis of real-world data. Real world data relates to people’s health, experience, or care delivery and can come from various sources, such as electronic health records, surveys and wearable devices. Real world evidence can be used to evaluate interventions in real world settings and populations.
- Rehabilitation refers to interventions designed to maximise people’s ability to live, play, work and learn. The occupational therapy workforce provides rehabilitation in social care and housing, NHS hospital and community, mental health, learning disability and autism services, schools or as independent or voluntary sector providers.
- RCOT strategic priorities
- Rise Up. We will rise up to be bold, progressive advocates and champions – raising our profile and voice so that more people understand the power of what occupational therapists do.
- Open Up. We will open up to new opportunities and people – joining forces, forming alliances, and getting more people to see occupational therapy as the solution to their needs.
- Lift Up. We will lift up every occupational therapist and support them to be the best they can be throughout their entire career – by offering them the best community, resources and tools that help them to succeed.
- Build Up. We will build up our organisation and culture to be dynamic, high performing and values-led – using insights and data to inform and drive us to achieve our purpose.
- Stakeholders and partners refer to organisations or individuals that have an interest or can influence or work collaboratively with RCOT for example World Federation of Occupational Therapists, Chief Allied Health Professions Officers/Adviser, Allied Health Professional leads and government departments with responsibility for health, social care and education.
- Support workforce is an umbrella term that covers a variety of roles that help to deliver occupational therapy, including support worker, occupational therapy assistant or technician. These roles do not require registration with the HCPC.
- System level commissioners and decision makers are leaders that plan, allocate resources and funding and monitor services within a health and care system.
- Workforce planning involves analysing the current workforce, determining future workforce needs, identifying the gap between the present and the future, and implementing solutions.