Occupational therapy in primary care: exploring the role of occupational therapy from a primary care perspective.

Abstract

General practice faces a workforce crisis, constrained finances, unsustainable workloads, and increasingly complex medical and care needs.1,2 The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) highlighted the challenge in 2015, stating that the number of consultations per year in England had increased by more than 60 million.3 The Five Year Forward View supports focusing on prevention and managing patients within the community.2 The General Practice Forward View identifies the need to build the wider workforce in primary care to address some of these challenges.4 The RCGP has supported work promoting and developing innovative roles to alleviate pressures that the system is facing.3 Occupational therapists are highly skilled practitioners working across health and social care. A clear fit with primary care regarding health promotion and holistic care has already been recognised.5 Occupational therapists value the importance of promoting mental and physical wellbeing, and are skilled in assessing the impact of developmental, physical, and mental health conditions.6 Occupational therapists are not routinely utilised within the primary care workforce in England despite their potential to provide valuable skills, support, and resource to GPs. An article in the BJGP by Brooks and Milligan7 supports the integration of occupational therapy (OT) in the delivery of Sustainability and Transformation Plans. They argue that this offers a cost-effective solution that ‘... reduces pressure on GPs, reduces referral to secondary care, enhances timely hospital discharge, and keeps people independent at home.’ . The University of Southampton OT Programme has developed student placements in diverse, non-traditional areas of practice. The concept driving these placements is the establishment of an OT role in new areas to demonstrate the added value that an …