As NHS Improvement tells hospitals to cancel all none urgent elective care over Christmas to help the service cope a survey of Occupational Therapists has revealed that less than 12% are rostered to work over the Christmas period. This is despite a recent call for Occupational Therapists to be included in out-of-hours services in order to prevent avoidable admissions or to allow people to return home as quickly as possible after an admission.
A year- long campaign by the College of Occupational Therapists found occupational therapists can reduce hospital admissions by 70-80% by working in A&E and on average reduce inpatient stays by 8.5 days. As a result of the low number of Occupational Therapists working on Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day the College is concerned that many people will be admitted to hospital when it is not medically necessary or held in hospital longer than they need to be over the festive period.
Over 1000 members of the College of Occupational Therapists responded to a survey asking about their working pattern over the Christmas Period. The results show that very few occupational therapists who responded to the survey will be working over the Christmas period:
- Christmas Eve: 11% rostered to work
- Christmas Day: 5% rostered to work
- Boxing Day 10% rostered to work
One occupational therapy team who will be working over these days is the rapid response therapy service at Barnet Hospital. The therapists provide an emergency assessment and intervention service across seven days in the emergency department and adult assessment unit. For patients who do not require medical treatment in hospital, therapists can help discharge patients more rapidly and help avoid unnecessary admissions. Figures have shown that 83% of patients seen by an OT in the ED at Barnet Hospital avoid being admitted. Of those patients able to leave the ED following therapy input, 96% return to their own homes rather than a care home.
Tahlia Levin, clinical lead for occupational therapy said: “None of our patients want to be kept in hospital any longer than they need to be, especially at Christmas. As Occupational Therapists we are qualified to work across NHS and social care services to ensure that patients who don’t need to be in hospital can be appropriately cared for at home.
"This is better for patients and ensures that our colleagues across the hospital are better placed to cope with the additional pressures that the cold weather brings."
Commenting on the results of the survey, Julia Scott, CEO at the College of Occupational Therapists said: "Patients are getting to occupational therapists too late and risk being admitted into hospital unnecessarily. We want to see more occupational therapists in A&E and in acute teams employed to work out of hours so that medically fit patients are not in hospital unnecessarily can stay independent and continue with daily life.
It is disappointing that yet again some people, especially the frail elderly will be spending this festive period stuck in hospital instead of enjoying Christmas at home or with their families."