Rehabilitation services to receive government funding
The UK government shared plans to provide additional funding to rehabilitation, in a statement last week.
More than £200m will be spent on healthcare services in each local area to speed up hospital discharge and free up NHS beds.
Currently, an estimated 13,000 patients are unable to leave hospital each day due to a shortage of community care.
The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) praised the move as “a positive step towards recognising the value of rehabilitation and its important role in hospital discharge”.
It says it will continue to work with the NHS to improve staffing levels, resources and waiting times for rehabilitation services. This includes placing occupational therapists in locations where they will have the biggest impact to mitigate pressures on acute care, freeing up local authorities to focus on their own communities.
Karin Orman, Director of Practice and Innovation at RCOT added:
“We’re no longer having to argue for the need for occupational therapy. Our conversations are now centred on how we can recruit more occupational therapists. Occupational therapy is being seen as a solution to many of the complex demands within the health and social care system.
“I’ve never seen this level of recognition of our skills and value. These are challenging times but also an opportunity for the profession to lead systems wide change. We’ll be working with members ensuring their expertise is drawn in designing needs-led integrated services at a national level.”
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