Last September , we looked at the very real issue of a shortage of practice placements . While not entirely a new issue – with more people doing more work , with fewer resources , it was already harder to secure practice placements in the normal way – the COVID-19 pandemic made the issue exponentially worse ( OTnews , September 2020 , pages 26 to 28 ).
One of the suggestions was a shift away from one-to-one models , and in this issue , we focus on some of the innovative ways people have been pulling out the stops to keep practice placements rolling .
On page 22 , students and an educator share their reflections of collaborative , creative working to provide a blended placement model during the pandemic . Selly Oak Trust School is a specialist school for young people aged from 11 to 19 , in Birmingham . COVID-19 required the school to re-evaluate its practice placement offer , and so it made the decision to trial a blended placement model with six students , each spending half of their time working on site and half working from home . It ’ s a fantastic account of their excitement and concerns around a new placement format .
Then , on page 26 , we look at how two universities have teamed up to develop occupational therapy provision in the mental health team to university students , before Dr Channine Clarke explores the value of leadership placements in supporting practice-based learning .
Recognising the significant impact COVID-19 has had on practice learning , Dr Clarke offered to have two students work collaboratively with herself and the University of Brighton ’ s School of Health Science ’ s placement teams for seven weeks to develop an interprofessional Edublog site . Turn to page 36 to see how they got on .
And finally , RCOT ’ s practice team offered its first ever student placement earlier this year . The team and student Sarah Niblock talk about what it took to make it a success on pages 18 to 19 .
Last year , we also ran a story on how an adult social care team overhauled how they handle new cases , prompting lots of members to see if they could replicate the change . On pages 38 to 40 , we hear from another team who followed their lead and have now slashed their own waiting lists .
Then , on pages 56 to 48 , Stuart Wilkin , Serena Conway and Rachel McLaughlin write about the enhanced value of their independent living flats during the COVID-19 pandemic .
To continue providing high quality and effective treatments for the people they work with , they have had to tackle the challenge of providing assessment and rehabilitation in a ‘ real world environment ’, in preparation for discharge , when visits to the home environment have been severely restricted . They share two service user stories to illustrate their work .
And finally , we are still looking for members to join our new Editorial Advisory Group . It ’ s a fantastic opportunity to help shape the future direction of your membership magazine . Find out more on page 37 .
Tracey Samuels , Editor
If you have any feedback about this issue of OTnews , or would like to contribute a short article or feature for a future publication , please email me at : tracey . samuels @ rcot . co . uk