Sue Hilsdon shares her journey into retirement and beyond .
F ollowing a long career working primarily in the NHS , I took early retirement in April 2020 , on the cusp of a national lockdown . I used this time to review my own transition into retirement through writing down my thoughts in an online blog , which has allowed for reflection , and an opportunity to develop a dialogue with colleagues locally and nationally .
I was ready to leave work , but not to stop being an occupational therapist , and this was an opportunity to reconnect more strategically with the profession .
Being confined to home and the internet early in retirement , the value of social media as a way of pursuing continuing professional development , keeping in touch with professional news , and maintaining links with occupational therapists was paramount , due to lockdown restrictions and being clinically extremely vulnerable , in the short term .
The main themes I considered for my blog , from interactions on Twitter and my own experiences , were ; continuing professional development ; bringing occupational therapy to new audiences , combining it with my volunteering ; supporting colleagues – retired , resting and in practice ; advocating for occupational therapy and allied health professionals ( AHPs ) in a changing health and social care world ; and continuing with supervising and mentoring – developing links with universities and local schools .
Various conversations sprang from my tweeting , and a chance discussion with Megan Parr , a co-tweeter from Health Education England ( HEE ), formalised thoughts on preretirement and our ‘ legacy , mentoring and value ’, particularly focused around retiring from a clinical / managerial role .
By no means is retirement ‘ just ’ your experience ; your value to your service , department , team and profession will be missed to a lesser or greater degree . So , following the discussion on Twitter , I considered ways , prior to retirement , to support services by looking at service improvement tasks .
Preparing for retirement
Peri-retirement included reviewing clinical protocols , pathways and policies , looking for ways to improve efficiency and reduce steps to effective clinical outcomes , promoting health literacy .
Also reviewing patient leaflets , as often these are recycled ad infinitum . AHPs can support services with advice on managing pathways .
I also considered skills banking , which entailed reviewing tasks , looking at frequently used ( or infrequent , but essential ) multidisciplinary tasks that can be used to start ‘ smart working ’
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52 OTnews July 2022