Summary
The occupational therapy (OT) workforce is under huge pressure. Increased demand coupled with workforce shortages is challenging OTs’ capacity to provide essential support to people whose lives are impacted by long term health conditions and disability.
In November 2022, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists surveyed OT practitioners across the UK about the workplace issues they’re facing now, and how these affect the services they deliver to the public. They also asked how practitioners are impacted personally, including whether they intend to continue working as OTs. The challenges shared by over 2,600 respondents have significant implications for the resilience of the current and future OT workforce, and the people who use OT services.
Content
Key findings
- 86% reported an increased demand for OT services within the previous 12 months.
- 79% stated that people were presenting more complex needs due to delayed interventions.
- 78% said that their team wasn’t large enough to meet the demand.
- 63% felt they were too busy to provide the level of care they’d like.
- 59% rated their work-related stress as 7 or above on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest level of stress.
Key recommendations
- Governments must recognise that investment in the NHS and social care is critical to a healthy population and therefore economic growth. Investment in the OT workforce must be matched to service and demographic need, not just in the NHS but in social care as well.
- Capacity should be built within primary and community health and social care services, to ensure people receive advice and help early on, rather than when in acute need or with increased complexity due to delayed intervention.
"We’re churning patients out faster and faster, older, frailer and more complex, but given no time to rehab or improve them, knowing that they will likely get readmitted again in a few days. That is disheartening when there is so much we could do if we were given a day or two, or there were more services in the community."
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