OTnews September 2011
Welcome to the September 2011 issue of OTnews
Anyone who buys a newspaper, watches the news, or listens to the radio would have found it hard to miss the seemingly daily warnings in the media that Britons face a dire retirement, with pensioners seeing their retirement income falling far short of what they had hoped.
This month, Christina McAnea, Unison national secretary, writes exclusively for OTnews on the government’s proposals to change public sector pensions, which are set, she says, to ‘define the future for occupational therapy staff’.
Unison is stepping up its campaign to protect members’ public sector pensions and Christina stresses that under the Con-Dem-led proposals, occupational therapy staff, and their pockets, will be ‘hard hit’. She outlines what the government plans are, in an easy to understand feature, and goes on to explain what the trade union is doing on your behalf to defend your pension schemes. Turn to page 17 to see what how you can get involved.
Staying with Unison, the trade union is urging members to ‘Adopt a Peer’ in the fight to get the Health and Social Care Bill scrapped in its entirety.
The bill is scheduled have its third reading in the House of Commons this month, and if it is passed, it will then move to the House of Lords – marking the next big step in Unison’s campaign to stop dead some of the most damaging elements in the bill.
The union is planning a number of local campaigning events, including lobbying MPs, holding community stalls, signing petitions and press stunts, and a candle lit vigil outside the Houses of Parliament at Westminster on Wednesday 7 September. Find out more on page 16.
Finally, this month’s cover feature is from Susan Coyne, an occupational therapist at Tayside child and adolescent mental health services, who explains how a film-making project has helped their young people to find a ‘louder voice’ within their recovery journey. Turn to page 33 for a more detailed look at this ‘unique’ project.
- Making more time to talk – Improving dementia care in general hospitals
- GAfREC 2011 – will the new arrangements affect research? – Mandy Sainty and Deanna Gibbs look at the new harmonised governance arrangements for RECs on OT researchers
- Psychological therapies in Scotland – The role of occupational therapy and psychological therapies and meeting the HEAT target in Scotland
- Universal services – Jacqueline Gordon on the City of London’s evolving nature of children’s services within the borough
- AHPF engagement with the listening exercise – Paul Hitchcock explains what the Allied Health Professions Federation has been lobbying government over
- Finding a louder voice – An OT-run film making project for young people in mental health is helping service users find a louder voice
- Rehabilitation flats within the low secure setting – Jill Corker and Kate Conneely describe the process they implement when utilising rehab flats in a low secure unit
- Engaging in work related interventions – The impact of employing a work skills coach on service users within a rehabilitation hospital for people with learning disabilities
- The long-term impact of mini stroke – A look at the aims of the new FACE TIA study from the University of Birmingham
- New beginnings – Claire Lancaster explains how the development of a topic group ishelping young adolescents in crisis recovery
