Occupational Therapy News OTnews July 2019 | Page 15

ANNUAL CONFERENCE REPORT Use quality improvement methods to improve recruitment, delegates urged In a session on leadership, Helen Lycett from West London NHS Trust looked at some of the challenges of recruiting and retaining occupational therapists within London and her own trust. Wth a 30 per cent vacancy rate, she said that there are a number of key drivers in London, including the extremely high housing costs, the abolishment of bursaries, and the inherent job competition within the capital city. Speaking about her own borough, she said: ‘Housing costs Housing costs and and rent are out of reach for most rent are out of reach for band five occupational therapists, most band five occupational meaning many people have to therapists, meaning many live out of the area and face long commutes to work.’ people have to live out of the ‘‘ She added: ‘Our local cohort area and face long was only 50 per cent full for the recruitment days. commutes to work. 2017/18 year, which we will feel In terms of retention, they implemented the impact of in a few years, and a band five and six AHP development Helen Lycett London is a busy place with a lot of programme, to complement the existing competition.’ preceptorship programme. In 2018, the trust has a 28 per cent The overall impact was that the trust achieved vacancy rate – in line with that of the rest of the its aim and after the nine-month period, had reduced the city – and Helen knew that they had to ‘start thinking differently’. vacancy rate from 28 per cent to a remarkable nine per cent. With improvement adviser training under her belt, giving her Her key message to others struggling with the same situation experience of the Model for Improvement and PDSA (Plan, Do, is that ‘no idea is a bad idea’, that staff should ‘ringfence time’ Study, Ask) cycles, Helen set out to reduce the trust’s vacancy for quality improvement projects, and that ‘no one thing works in rate to 10 per cent by March 2019. isolation’. Wth buy in from HR, they trialled using Google Ads to help With that final point in mind, Helen says the trust is now looking with recruitment – a tool that she says ‘was not that expensive’, at how it can work more collaboratively across the system to start alongside a number of other initiatives, including to change things across London. Do you know the driving status of all your clients? And if not, why not? These were the direct questions posed by Sherrie Buckley, from St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, in a session on the current knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and practice of occupational therapists in Northern Ireland when it comes to driving and depression. There are around 322 million people worldwide with depression, she pointed out. Depression itself can impact on driving ability, in terms of attention, for example, while medication can have severe side effects and vehicular suicide ideation is often under reported. Her own research looked to investigate what Irish occupational therapists are doing when it comes to looking at the issue of driving and depression with their clients. It indicated that: around 30 per cent of respondents referred people to another profession; 35 per cent did provide some driving-related advice; six per cent viewed assessment as only an issue for those with a physical/ cognitive disability; 28 per cent offered no advice or intervention; and eight per cent said the role was better suited to occupational therapists in physical disability not mental health. She added that almost all respondents thought further education and training was needed. She said that rather then determining if somebody is fit to drive, occupational therapists should be ‘starting to have the conversation’ about fitness to drive. ‘Conversations are not really happening,’ she exclaimed. ‘Why is driving overlooked? Occupational therapists should do this, but we are not doing it, and when we do, we are inclined to refer to others.’ She concluded: ‘We need to be more proactive in considering driving. We need to know the driving status of the people we work with and we need to start talking and offering advice, or another profession will come along and start doing it for us.’ OTnews July 2019 15