Occupational Therapy News OTnews February 2020 | Page 56

FOCUS ON VOLUNTEERING
Networking and
CPD opportunities
Chris Bowden, clinical discharge lead and
occupational therapist at Poole Hospital
Foundation NHS Trust, and treasurer
for the Royal College of Occupational
Therapists Specialist Section
for Older People, is about to
step down as a member
of the national executive
committee, after six years.
Here he reflects on the
experience
I
f you are looking for ways to energise your career, meet occupational
therapy colleagues from across the country, and positively influence the
profession, then joining the committee of one of the RCOT specialist
sections might be just what you are looking for.
After joining the RCOT Specialist Section for Older People (RCOTSS-OP) at
annual conference in 2009, I was approached several years later by a member
of the national executive committee, which runs the specialist section, to ask if I
would be interested in applying for one of the vacant clinical forum co-lead roles.
At that stage, I was working in the Leicester Royal Infirmary emergency
department, acute medical unit and short stay unit, and decided to put myself
forward for the role of acute care and emergency clinical forum co-lead.
While I was in this role, I led a benchmarking exercise of 20 occupational
therapy teams across the country that were working in emergency departments,
to map working hours, team staffing and look at ways of working.
In addition, I put forward a case study demonstrating outreach working to be
included in the Silver Book, which was accepted and published.
In 2012, I changed my job role and moved to the Poole Intermediate Care
Team, so applied to move across to the vacant intermediate care and reablement
clinical forum co-lead role.
56 OTnews February 2020