In our March OTnews, we caught up with Dr Sidney Chu ahead of his online Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture on Thursday 28 April 2022.
Dr Chu will talk about Optimising performance, clinical and economic outcomes in occupational therapy service delivery. We wanted to find out more about what sparked his interest in service development.
Dr Chu shared, ‘In this first job, I had the opportunity to be involved in developing and building a new nursery centre for preschoolers with special needs within a housing estate.
‘I was acting as the centre manager to lead on the building project. The role involved liaising with the construction company and the housing department, purchasing new equipment, recruiting new staff, processing referrals of children to attend the centre, and conducting intake assessments through home visits.
‘This provided me with good experience in general management and project management. I started to realise that having superior evidence-based clinical skills was not enough. It is important to have a good structure and operational processes to deliver the interventions efficiently and at the lowest cost.’
Dr Chu used his expertise to change and improve occupational therapy services in a London borough.
‘Armed with the knowledge in service development and improvement, I was able to inspire innovation within the service, to influence senior management and other key stakeholders through networking, and to get commitment to developing the service into a fully integrated and multi-agency funded service for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).’
The integrated service was shortlisted as the finalist for the 2014 Health Service Journal Value in Healthcare Award.
Most importantly, the service is improving the experiences and outcomes of the many children, parents, carers and occupational therapists involved.
‘Each child referred to the service will only have one occupational therapist at one time, versus two or three, from different agencies if the child is living in a different area.
‘The therapist will be able to deliver a holistic care plan for children with different disability conditions and the work will not be artificially separated into different parts. Parents do not need to deal with different occupational therapists at different times. It facilitates continuity of care and provides a seamless service.
An integrated service structure helps to reduce cost by removing time spent making interagency referrals, duplication of assessment and coordinating inputs.’
In our upcoming Casson Lecture, you’ll hear directly from Dr Chu about how you can improve and develop your service to achieve better outcomes.
Explore ‘service improvement strategies, based on practice-based and research-based evidence, to improve the structure and processes of service delivery, to achieve better performance and clinical outcomes and to maximise the use of resources, time and effort in service delivery.’
Book your free ticket for the 2022 Elizabeth Casson Memorial Lecture on Thursday 28 April. Taking place online, watch from wherever you are.
Read the full Q&A with Dr Chu from page 12 in March OTnews.