Tag: Royal College of Occupational Therapists

RCOT announce new strategy for championing the occupational therapy profession

The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) has announced a new strategy and rebrand, crucial to achieving its vision that people everywhere will value the life-changing power of occupational therapy.

The vision purposefully focuses on occupational therapy’s wider impact on society – enhancing the profession’s profile and positioning the role of occupational therapy for the future. 

The five-year strategy details what RCOT will do to make its vision a reality. It guides RCOT to rise up to be bold, progressive advocates and champions, open up to new opportunities and people, lift up every occupational therapist to be the best they can be.  RCOT has also adopted new organisational values that define how it’ll act and make decisions to reach its vision.

The new brand signals a major change and is essential to achieving RCOT’s ambitions. It has ‘occupation’ and inclusivity at its heart to capture the positive, dynamic and deeply human spirit of occupational therapy.   

Commenting on this, RCOT Chief Executive Steve Ford said: “I’m hugely excited to be announcing our strategic plans and revealing our new brand which is critical to achieving our ambitions for the organisation and profession.

“At RCOT, everything we do is so that one day people everywhere value the life-changing power of occupational therapy. Our vision purposefully focuses on our wider impact on society – enhancing our profession’s profile and positioning the role of occupational therapy for the future.

“We listened to our members to find out how we can best support them as individuals, to enable and grow the profession, and to boost awareness so that more people want to get involved with occupational therapy – and choose it as a solution, or as their profession.

“To reach our ambitious goals we must improve and change how we work to become a more forward-looking organisation. We will boldly lead the profession forward with a stronger voice than ever before.

“We will be the advocate and champion that occupational therapists deserve, sharing and celebrating the life-changing outcomes they help to achieve for people and society. We will be proudly inclusive – welcoming and supporting new generations of occupational therapists to join the profession so we reflect the diverse society that we represent and work with.

“It’s time to show the world the true power of what we do.”

How to manage post-viral fatigue after COVID-19

Practical advice for people who have recovered at home

Post-viral fatigue is when you have an extended period of feeling unwell and fatigued after a viral infection.

Fatigue is a normal part of the body’s response to fighting a viral infection such as COVID-19. Fatigue is likely to continue for some time after the infection has cleared. It can make you sleep more, feel unsteady on your feet, make standing for long periods difficult, as well as affecting your ability to concentrate and your memory.

Self-isolate
Please follow government guidelines. Remember, this includes isolating from your family/ household wherever possible, even if they have symptoms or are also self-isolating. If you deteriorate, seek immediate medical help following government guidelines.

Rest
Rest is very important for your body as it fights off infection. You need to rest both your body and mind. Keep television, phones and social media to a minimum. Relaxation, breathing and meditation can all support quality rest – the NHS Apps Library has free tools you can try. Sensory relaxation tools such as fragrances, blankets, and relaxing music can also help. If a strategy doesn’t work for you, try another one until you find one that does.

Sleep
You may find that you need to sleep more. Make sure you follow healthy sleep habits: ensure your room is as dark as possible, have a bedtime routine, and avoid caffeine, eating late and using electrical items before bed.

Nourishment
Try to keep your normal routine for eating and drinking. Being ill with a temperature can make you dehydrated so make sure you drink fluid when you’re thirsty and enough so that you pass urine with normal frequency and volume.

Move
Get up and move around slowly and gently a few times each day. This will keep your body mobile and help with circulation.

Keep activity levels low
Both physical and cognitive (thinking) activities use energy. Try to do only a small number of these activities each day, including basic activities of daily living, such as washing and dressing.

Allow time

COVID-19 affects people differently, so give yourself time to recover. Its impact afterwards doesn’t always reflect the severity of the virus and you don’t have to have been hospitalised to experience fatigue. You may feel pressure to resume your usual activities quickly, but don’t rush.

Have fun​
Do some low energy activities that you enjoy, such as reading or watching TV, for short periods with regular rests.

Stop
Please follow government guidelines. Unless you feel fully recovered after self-isolation, you shouldn’t work. Your body still needs to focus on fighting the infection.

Royal College of Occupational Therapists launches careers diversity campaign

As part of Occupational Therapy Week 2020, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) has launched a campaign to inspire people from all backgrounds to become occupational therapists. 

Although there are over 41,000 occupational therapists, across the UK there is still a significant shortage and the profession is included on the UK’s Shortage Occupations List.

RCOT also wants to encourage people from a variety of backgrounds to qualify as occupational therapists and ensure that the profession reflects the diversity of the population it serves.

Through a social media campaign, #ChooseOT, RCOT is reaching out to school students and the people who support them to encourage more people to consider occupational therapy as a career. 

RCOT Chief Executive, Julia Scott said: “I’m sure I speak for our members in saying that being an occupational therapist is the best job in the world. It brings immense benefits and opportunities, and training to be an occupational therapist leads to a nationally and internationally recognised qualification.

“No two days are ever the same. You can change people’s lives on a daily basis working in the NHS, social care, schools, prisons, the emergency services and in the private and voluntary sector. The list is almost endless. 

“The profession needs people from all backgrounds. So if you are a problem solver, people person, good at sizing up situations or enjoy helping people – now is the time to #ChooseOT.”

Occupational Therapy Week 2020 takes place from 2-8 November,

More information can be found on our campaign webpage. 

More information on how to become an occupational therapist can be found at our careers website. 

Occupational Therapists’ concern over testing shortages

The difficulty that frontline key workers are having in accessing COVID-19 tests has recently been the subject of much discussion in parliament and the media.

Occupational therapists across the UK play a key role in the fight against the pandemic, and the lack of testing is of huge concern to the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

Commenting on the lack of testing, RCOT Chief executive Julia Scott said: “We have seen over the past few days significant concerns from all areas of the NHS, Social Care, Teachers and those front-line key workers who have struggled to get a COVID-19 test.

“As we see spikes in the infection rates and signs of a second wave, we have huge concerns about the accessibility of testing for occupational therapists and AHP’s on the front-line. In particular, those that work in social care settings, such as care homes, which as we know are extremely vulnerable to the worst impacts of coronavirus.

“Whilst it is positive that government ministers have suggested that the NHS is the top priority for testing, this is worrying for social care which was overlooked in the initial response to the pandemic. Occupational therapists for weeks and months were hampered in providing vital support, such as rehabilitation, to those that needed it due to the lack of guidance and access to personal protective equipment.

“The fact that some NHS staff, Care Workers and Teachers are already having to self-isolate because they cannot access a test within a reasonable distance in many parts of the country, is not good enough. This needs to be resolved in days and not ‘in a matter of weeks’ as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care indicated this week during urgent questions.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54172210

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-nhs-recovery-threatened-as-test-shortages-mean-staff-have-to-self-isolate-12072228

Royal College of Occupational Therapists launch ‘Small Change, Big Impact’ campaign

As part of Occupational Therapy Week 2019, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) has launched a new campaign, ‘Small Change, Big Impact’, which celebrates how the small changes occupational therapists make can have a big impact on the people they support. Continue reading Royal College of Occupational Therapists launch ‘Small Change, Big Impact’ campaign