Occupational Therapy News OTnews February 2020 | Page 7

NEWS England’s occupational therapy pre-registration students to each get £5,000 a year from September Future pre-registration occupational therapy students in England going to English universities will receive at least £5,000 a year in maintenance grants they will not have to pay back. A further £3,000 will be available for specialist disciplines identified by the government, childcare costs, and in areas with difficulty recruiting. It will supplement existing support that is already available for travel, accommodation, financial hardship and childcare, as well as student loans. The funding is being made available to all degree-level nursing, midwifery and most allied health students starting in the next academic year. More details will be made available in the upcoming NHS People Plan, which will set out plans to reduce NHS vacancies. Jo Watson, RCOT assistant director for education and research, said: ‘This new funding is a welcome boost for us and many other healthcare professions. While it is a step in the right direction, we do have concerns about current students who have accrued significant debt over the past few years who will not benefit from the new support and also for future students who are seeing a steep rise in living costs, issues which this funding does not fully solve. ‘As occupational therapy is now on the shortage list of professions, we are keen to see further support for us and other key health professions to make sure the health and social care system is appropriately staffed to meet current and future demand.’ RCOT is seeking clarification on what the announcement means for students from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland who study in England, and on which continuing students will be able to take advantage of the new funding. £5,000 £ FOR NEW OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST STUDENTS EACH YEAR IN ENGLAND CALL FOR NOMINATIONS DR ELIZABETH CASSON MEMORIAL LECTURESHIP 2021 COUNCIL IS INVITING RCOT MEMBERS TO SEND NOMINATIONS FOR THE PRESTIGIOUS DR ELIZABETH CASSON MEMORIAL LECTURESHIP 2021. Purpose: This lectureship is a memorial to Elizabeth Casson (1881-1954) in honour of her contributions to the profession of occupational therapy. The first woman to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of Bristol in 1929, she specialised in psychiatry and introduced occupational therapy to England, setting up the first school of occupational therapy, Dorset House, in Bristol. The lectureship is awarded to a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) who is considered by their peers to have made and be making a significant contribution to the development of the profession. The name of the 2021 Elizabeth Casson Memorial lecturer will be announced at the 2020 Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture. Selection Criteria: The nominee will have made a significant contribution to the profession by: 1. Being an inspirational professional within their area of practice, research, education or management 2. Being an excellent communicator as evidenced by testimonial from peers, service users and carers 3. Making or having made a significant contribution to the development of occupational therapy through professional practice, service improvement, service delivery, research or education 4. Having provided the opportunity for service users and carers, members of the profession and others to benefit from their work through clinical practice, publications or presentations 5. Being an active member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists in good standing 6. Having actively demonstrated use of advanced theory, standards and methods within occupational therapy that improve outcomes for service users and carers and promote public awareness and understanding of the profession’s contribution. Guidelines and nomination forms are available from https://www.rcot.co.uk/news-and-events/awards- and-funding/dr-elizabeth-casson-memorial-lecture or Dominique Le Marchand, Senior Administrative Officer, Royal College of Occupational Therapists, 106-114 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB. Tel: [phone]. Email: [email protected]. Deadline for return of completed nomination form is Friday 27 March 2020. We will acknowledge receipt of your nomination. We regret that we cannot enter into correspondence on the merits of a particular nomination. N205 OTnews February 2020 7