Occupational Therapy News OTnews February 2020 | Page 6

NEWS
First minister sees firsthand the value of occupational therapy 
Nicola Sturgeon tried out the value of bounce therapy firsthand on
a visit to Stirling-based social enterprise bOunceT.
Scotland’s first minister visited with then-MEP Alyn Smith,
who met with occupational therapists and service users, as well
as taking up the chance to try out the trampoline herself. She
also got to see the service run a session with local children with
autism, focusing on developing skills such as social interaction,
communication and turn-taking.
Several journalists also visited the service as they followed
the first minister on the election trail, with coverage mentioning
bOunceT included in the Scottish Sun and the Courier.
The visit followed an earlier event held to mark Occupational
Therapy Week at a local centre for adults with learning
disabilities, attended by both Mr Smith and Bruce Crawford MSP.
Occupational Therapy Week also marked the first time that the
service had taken students from Queen Margaret University on
placement, and saw the service launch a new initiative to bring
together parents and carers to discuss their experiences, named
Meaningful Meetings. 
bOunceT was founded in 2017 by occupational therapist
Callum MacKinnon. It works to improve the quality of life and
participation in meaningful occupations for children and adults
with disabilities, and their families, in Scotland.
The service employs several occupational therapists and is
using a £140,000 National Lottery Community Fund Scotland
grant to work with 300 people over three years.
Callum said: ‘It was an honour to have Scotland’s first minister
visit our therapy play room in Stirling. Nicola Sturgeon and
Mr Smith were very interested to learn about what we do as
occupational therapists, in addition to learning about my journey
as a young founder of a non-profit business. 
‘This high-profile visit obviously attracted a lot of media
attention so there was a lot of buzz about this from local and
national press which was a great opportunity for us to show the
public an example of what we do, whilst communicating the value
of occupational therapy.’
Occupational therapists offer way to pick up care home work from GPs, says RCOT
GPs’ fears of being overwhelmed by new duties in England to
regularly visit care homes could be tackled by using occupational
therapists, RCOT has said.
GPs are due to assume new duties later this year, which
includes fortnightly visits to care home patients as part of the
new preventative healthcare responsibilities held by primary care
networks (PCNs).
However, GP leaders have warned that the plans are
‘completely unachievable’ as they include no extra funding.
In a recent NHS England consultation about community
contacts for GPs, RCOT submitted a response arguing that
occupational therapists could be better used in primary care to
help GPs to deliver this.
A summary of consultation responses released by NHS
England showed that several other bodies also felt that allied
health professionals could take on some of the work.
6 OTnews February 2020
Genevieve Smyth, RCOT professional adviser, said: ‘We
have argued that occupational therapists have a clear role to
play in care homes and can pick up much of the work currently
earmarked for GPs, and it is heartening to see that other bodies
have also recognised the value of allied health professionals here
too.
‘The new duties require weekly visits to care homes, half of
which need to be delivered by GPs. But that still means there will
be a lot of visits from other professionals, and it will be a great way
to demonstrate the value of occupational therapy in this space.
‘Our consultation response showed the work already delivered
by members in Berkshire, Yorkshire and London, and is a great
starting point to see how to make the most of the new care home
duties.’
Read RCOT’s consultation response at: www.bit.do/closed-
consultations.