NEWS
NEWS IN BRIEF
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS VISAS GIVEN SIX MONTHS EXTRA COVID EXTENSION
The visas of health professionals and their family members have been given an extra six-month extension to help in the fight against COVID-19 . In April , RCOT ’ s lobbying helped lead to occupational therapists be included in the government ’ s auto-visa extension scheme . This new extension lasts until March 31 . Around 6,000 healthcare and social care workers are expected to benefit from the news , including occupational therapists . RCOT welcomed the extension , but said more could be done to recognise the work they are doing on the ground in challenging times .
RCOT DISCUSSES NORTHERN IRELAND ’ S NEW 10-YEAR MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY
RCOT has met with the newly-appointed mental health champion for Northern Ireland to discuss what occupational therapists want to see in its new 10-year mental health strategy . Discussions focused on prioritising the social determinants of health and finding meaningful outcomes that ensure people are active and engaged in their lives . They also covered the difference that occupational therapists can make in primary care , perinatal mental health and mainstream education , with the last highlighting the work of an occupational therapist working in a mainstream school in Belfast . The strategy is being written now and is due out for consultation in 2021 .
BRITISH GERIATRICS SOCIETY CALL FOR MORE COVID PROTECTION FOR OLDER GROUPS
The British Geriatrics Society has called on the government to protect older people in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic . Ninety per cent of deaths in the first wave were among people aged over 65 , with 40 per cent among care home residents . The # BGSFairCare campaign is calling for resources to be allocated on the basis of evidence and need rather than age , with better access in care homes to personal protective equipment and testing . It is also calling for the prompt restart of falls prevention , community rehabilitation and support services . Find out more at : www . bgs . org . uk / faircare .
EMBRACE POSITIVE RISK TAKING , RCOT ADVISES SCOTTISH MENTAL HEALTH LAW REVIEW
Scottish mental health law should shift to address health inequalities and the social determinants of health , RCOT has told an independent
review . RCOT was invited to respond on the human rights priorities for mental health , and also has advised that more positive risk-taking needs to take place , and has promoted its own guide on positive risk taking . The Royal College has also supported the idea of people having a human rights assessment rather than a mental health assessment . Find out more at : www . mentalhealthlawreview . scot .
England ’ s COVID recovery programme expands with resources developed with occupational therapists
The rollout of the second phase of Your Covid Recovery , which supports people in England who have had COVID-19 , has begun , with more resources developed with occupational therapists .
The initial Your Covid Recovery website , which is fully open to the public , was launched in July and has already been visited over 250,000 times .
The new online resources launched last month requires referral and a face-to-face assessment before they can be accessed , and provide an online , interactive rehabilitation platform , which allows users to set and work towards their own goals . RCOT and its members contributed to some of the 16 new programme modules .
Lauren Walker , RCOT professional adviser , said : ‘ We know the numbers of people needing support with the ongoing impact of COVID-19 are significant , and these new resources offer a goal-focused way of supporting people to self-manage their recovery . It is great that occupational therapists have been able to contribute our expertise to something that will reach so many people .’
NHS service leads are encouraged to read the guidance regarding Your Covid Recovery and sign their services up for training and induction to use the new resources . Services that would like to offer their patients access to the Your COVID Recovery platform should contact University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust at yourcovidrecovery @ uhl-tr . nhs . uk in order to register their services and access training in order to use the platform .
The new online resources will run alongside the Long COVID assessment clinics , which received £ 10 million in government funding in October ( November ’ s OTnews , page 13 ), which are expected to include occupational therapists as part of the multidisciplinary team . Planning documents say that occupational therapists will be able to deliver ‘ a personalised and occupation-focused approach to assessment such as cognition , delirium , mental health and functional outcome , independence and activity measures , including support for self-management and social prescribing ’.
NHS England ’ s guidance is available at : www . bit . do / NHSE- COVID-clinics . If you are working in one of the new clinics , please contact : lauren . walker @ rcot . co . uk .
200,000 people visited England ’ s Your Covid Recovery website so far
12 OTnews December 2020