Research and innovation
Research and innovation
Feature
Advancing occupational therapy
Dr Helen Atkin
Linda du Preez
Alice Gair
Dr Clair Le Boutillier
Emily Corrigan
Dr Maria Avantaggiato-Quinn
Dr Vimal Sriram
Dr Gill Ward shares an update on the progress of our new Research and Innovation Strategy
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n the March issue of OTnews , we outlined our plans to launch a new RCOT Research and Innovation Strategy in Spring 2025 . This new strategy will align with our strategic priorities – Rise up , Open up , Lift up and Build up – and with current allied health professions ( AHP ) research and innovation strategies in the UK .
Research and innovation drive our profession forward and create growth opportunities for your career . As part of our Workforce Strategy ( RCOT 2024 ), this new Research and Innovation Strategy aims to enhance the capacity and capability of both our current and future workforce to actively engage in research and innovation .
Our goal is to enable the occupational therapy workforce , including our support workers and learners , to generate and integrate research and real-world evidence into practice , improving service quality , care and reducing health inequities . Through this strategy , we are committed to achieving transformational impact and sustainable change , enabling services guided by evidence and equipping occupational therapists with the information they need to deliver the best services to the people and communities we work with .
Progress so far
We ’ ve held a series of strategy shaping workshops in all four UK nations that included members , stakeholders , learners and people with lived experience , to debate the key issues for advancing research and innovation in occupational therapy .
We held a validation workshop , to confirm what we had heard , and had discussions with representatives from our expert advisory groups BAMEOT , LGBTQIA + and AbleOT , to make sure we were thinking about diversity and inclusion within the strategy .
We ’ ve co-produced our vision for the strategy together . Our vision is for our members to be changemakers , championing research and innovation evidence . Embracing values of equity , diversity and belonging , together we will advance a culture of curiosity , collaboration and continuous improvement to enhance the lives and wellbeing of people and communities we work with .
Meet our new advisory group
We ’ ve also established a new Research and Innovation Advisory Group . This group will support and act as a critical friend to steer our research and innovation workstream , including strategy development , implementation and related activities .
The advisory group includes members with innovation experience , research experience , learners and people with lived experience and we are delighted to introduce these volunteers here .
Dr Helen Atkin , Lead of the new Research and Innovation Advisory Group , is experienced in bringing together diverse and multiple perspectives in research and evaluation through participatory approaches and coproduction .
Helen says she is ‘ passionate about the voices of people with lived experience , communities and the public being heard in research ’.
She ’ s joined on the group by Linda du Preez , who currently works at Health Innovation Wessex . Linda ’ s role involves supporting the work of the Innovation Adoption directorate by coordinating spread and adoption of health and care innovations across Wessex .
This enables her to combine her passion for innovation and evidence-based practice , with her previous clinical skills .
Alice Gair is an AHP Clinical Fellow for North East North Cumbria ICB and a NHSE Clinical Entrepreneur , where she ’ s led with various Quality Improvement projects and service developments Her background is neonatal and paediatric occupational therapy , and she will co-lead the group . Alice has ‘ a huge passion for innovation ’ and warmly welcomes any networking opportunities .
Dr Clair Le Boutillier works as a THIS Institute ( The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute ) Post-Doctoral Research Fellow , where her research focuses on the study of Improvement Science . Alongside , she offers qualitative methodological advice as a Senior Research Fellow with the NIHR Research Support Service hosted by King ’ s College London and partners .
Emily Corrigan is Head of Improvement ( Therapies ), Emergency Care Improvement Support Team at NHS England . With over 20 years ’ experience working as a clinician , along with operational and improvement roles , Emily recently moved into a national improvement role where she supports teams and systems improvement in the urgent and emergency care pathways .
14 OTnews November 2024