Occupational Therapy is part of the Integrated Care Service which comprises of the Hospital Social Care Team, Social Care Occupational Therapy and Reablement. The service is led by a Service Manager, all are county-wide services and all work very closely together.
Occupational Therapy is provided across several services within Adult Social Care so there are plenty of opportunities to develop your knowledge, skills, and experience in practice as well as career progression:
- Personalisation
- Home Environment Assessment & Response Team (HEART)
- Reablement
- Integrated Community Equipment & Assistive Technology Service & Blue Badge Team
- Learning Disability
- Strategic Commissioning
Teams 1 and 4 are led by an Operations Manager North and South but all occupational therapy are professionally accountable to the Integrated Care Service Manager.
Personalisation is the occupational therapy service made up of occupational therapists (OT) and occupational therapy assistants (OTA) who assess a customer in their home surroundings via technology or a face-to-face visit. The purpose of the assessment is to identify the long term needs of the customer using a strengths-based approach to find solutions which range from strategies to manage day to day tasks, the utilisation of community resources, or the loan of equipment. All customers who have complex moving and handling needs are offered an annual review to ensure the equipment and carers are meeting their needs and minimising emergencies.
There are 3 teams covering the geographical area of Warwickshire each led by a Team Leader and comprising of OT’s and OTA’s. The OT workforce has an incredible spectrum of experience from practitioners who have just qualified to very experienced practitioners. This is also the case with our OTA’s who start in the team with no experience in the role but have the attributes of problem solving. There is the opportunity to be supported to qualify as an OT, as an apprenticeship is available after working 2 years for Warwickshire. There is also lots of learning and development opportunities to enable practitioners to fulfil and grow in their role, gain promotion, and maintain registration if applicable to the post with the Health & Care Professions Council.
Home Environment Assessment & Response Team (HEART)
HEART is a partnership arrangement with our colleagues in the District and Borough Councils in Warwickshire. The occupational therapy staff are employed by Warwickshire County Council and seconded to HEART. The team is managed by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and comprises of occupational therapists and housing assessment officers (HAO). The HAO was a new role developed a few years ago which combines the skills of an occupational therapy assistant and a housing officer. All members of the team have developed the skills of:
- Assessing a person's ability to undertake daily living tasks under the Care Act
- Identifying the environmental barriers and suitability of the environment
- Identifying housing hazards and poor living conditions
- Finding solutions e.g., minor, and major adaptations, replacing guttering, floorboards etc
The occupational therapist's practice is focused more on the complex customers where alternative accommodation or major adaptations are required as the service covers Warwickshire residents of all age.
Reablement service delivers an internal therapy programme for up to 6 weeks to enable a customer to regain their confidence and skills in daily living activities. The service has OT’s. Please see separate page for more information.
Integrated Community Equipment & Assistive Technology Service & Blue Badge Team
The Integrated Community Equipment & Assistive Technology service is delivered by an external provider, but Warwickshire County Council has an internal OT team who provide clinical leadership, knowledge, and experience to support the prescribers, commissioners, and the provider to deliver a responsive and appropriate range of equipment and AT devices to meet the needs of customers.in addition, the team develop and deliver a range of training to support prescribers. The team also encompasses the delivery of the Independent Mobility Assessment for Blue Badge applicants through either technology or face to face contact.
Learning Disability
There are several OT practitioners (OT and OTA) who deliver specialist assessments and interventions within our Learning Disability team. The practitioners work closely with the social workers and social care practitioners with individual customers in all types of living accommodation e.g., supported living, own or family homes. The OTs are accredited in the delivery of the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS).
Strategic Commissioning
We have one post currently within our strategic commissioning service which is an exciting development. The post supports are commissioners in their work with providers of care homes and domiciliary care by providing specialist knowledge in improving quality of practice in areas such as moving and handling, equipment and enabling customers to be as independent as possible