The occupational therapists in these case studies reflect on their experiences , why people should consider this route , and recognising and valuing your transferrable skills as an occupational therapist .
Principles-based practice
We worked with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy ( CSP ) to develop a set of principles of practice-based learning . These will support you in developing an innovative , quality and sustainable placement offer . You can download a copy and access our launch webinar from our website . You can also come along to our session at RCOT Annual Conference in June .
Our webinar series is now available for you to access via our website . Practice educators , learners and university tutors share their placement opportunities and learning to support you in embedding the principles of practice-based learning into your work .
We also worked with the University of Salford to undertake a survey exploring placements for pre-registration learners , sharing our findings at a conference last month .
International recruitment
For the project area ‘ international recruitment ’, our main focus was the creation of an online ‘ hub ’ webpage , that members and non-members can use for signposting , case-studies and general information about international recruitment for occupational therapists .
This webpage will be regularly updated and is a go-to resource to support members that have little experience in this area , from both a recruiter and applicant perspective .
In addition , we wanted to get a deeper understanding of the specific issues that occupational therapists are facing in international recruitment . So we carried out 15 interviews with occupational therapists that have either been through the international recruitment process themselves , from an applicant point of view , or have themselves recruited occupational therapists from overseas .
We ’ ve presented our key recommendations and themes in a short report , which we ’ ve passed to NHS England to review and inform their work going forward in this area .
Career conversations
Capturing conversations with members of our occupational therapy community , we ’ ve recorded and produced a series of vodcasts ( video podcasts ) and podcasts .
The series , which launched on Tuesday 2 May , focuses on hearing and sharing the career stories of our diverse workforce . Each vodcast is also available in traditional audio podcast format with text transcription ( see also OTnews , April issue , pages 30-32 ).
Inclusive engagement
All members of our occupational therapy workforce , irrespective of background and / or characteristics , should feel valued , respected and supported to develop their talents to the full . This project complements ongoing work by CPD @ RCOT to improve inclusive engagement and the support offered to increase representation across all levels and scopes of practice .
Support workforce
Working in a range of settings across health and social care and beyond , our occupational therapy support workforce includes those working in a range of non-registered roles aligned with occupational therapy or blended AHP disciplines .
This hub will be a growing collection of resources for our support workforce and those who work with and support them .
Supporting early career OTs
We brought together a representative group of pre-registration learners , early career occupational therapists , those with experience in supervising early career occupational therapists and those who are in a dedicated preceptorship role , and / or are involved in supporting the learning and development of the occupational therapy workforce ( pre- and post-registration ).
The project group took a collaborative approach with respect to our goals , priorities and the overall direction of the project . The group has engaged in regular meetings virtually to facilitate asynchronous and ongoing collaboration and has piloted the use of a closed project group space on the FutureNHS platform .
For more information and to access all the new resources visit https :// bit . ly / 3LhZt9a .
A minimum of
27,000
additional AHPs will be needed by 2024 to meet future AHP workforce demand
May 2023 OTnews 59