Scotland

Key areas of activity for BAOT/COT in Scotland

Reshaping and redesigning services across health and social care to:

• make the best use of OT resources
• deliver real occupationally based and person centred outcomes for people
• enable the people who urgently need our services to access them in a timely manner

See From interface to integration for a model for jointed up OT services based on the International Classification on Disability.

Promoting the benefits of OT

Specifically, promoting the benefits of OT in: 

• financial savings e.g. reducing unnecessary hospital admissions for older people, reducing unnecessarily costly packages of care at home
• outcomes for people e.g. by reporting the difference having an OT in the process makes to an individual’s life
• Government policies e.g. the Dementia Strategy, the Reshape of Care for Older People, the Intermediate Care Strategy

Maintaining an OT workforce

Maintaining an OT workforce that is fit for purpose e.g. numbers, professional and strategic leadership, mix of grades in OT services, skill mix with right numbers of OTs in multi-disciplinary and multi-agency teams. 

Contacts for specific areas of activity in Scotland

• Reshape of Care for Older People
  Elizabeth MacDonald – Elizabeth.Macdonald@cot.co.uk
  Karin Tancock Professional Affairs-older people – Karin.Tancock@cot.co.uk
• Scottish Government Dementia Strategy
  Elizabeth MacDonald – Elizabeth.Macdonald@cot.co.uk
  Karin Tancock Professional Affairs-older people – Karin.Tancock@cot.co.uk
• Scottish Government Blue Badge Reform 
  Elizabeth MacDonald – Elizabeth.Macdonald@cot.co.uk
  Roger Kincaid, COT Scottish Board member - Roger.Kincaid@southlanarkshire.gsx.gov.uk
• Scottish Government NHS AHP strategic Workforce Group  
  Kim Hartley, The Allied Health Professions Federation Scotland (AHPFS) rep and RCSLT policy officer – Kim.Hartley@rcslt.org
• OTs in criminal justice  
  Catherine Totten, Scottish Board member - Catherine.Totten@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
• NEW Scottish Government Mental Health Strategy 
  Catherine Totten, Scottish Board member - Catherine.Totten@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
  Genevieve Smyth, Professional Affairs Officer-MH/LD – Genevieve.Smyth@cot.co.uk
• NEW Scottish Government Intermediate Care Strategy
  Elizabeth MacDonald – Elizabeth.Macdonald@cot.co.uk
• COT report Changing Lives, Changing Practice
  Chairman of COT Implementation Group Jacquie MacIntyre - Jacquie.MacIntyre@inverclyde.gov.uk
• NHS Quality Strategy
  Contact  the AHP Federation Scotland (AHPFS) reps for the following AHP Government sub-groups:
  Effective Practice – Linda Renfrew - Linda.Renfrew@aapct.scot.nhs.uk
  Safe Practice – Lesley Yarrow - Lesley.Yarrow@nhs.net
  Person centred Practice – Monica McTurk - Monica.Mcturk@nhs.net

What you can do about policy and legislation relating to occupational therapy in Scotland

• Sign up for the BAOT/COT Scotland e-news with information on COTs influencing and profile raising activities. You will also find information on what the COT Community in Scotland is doing too.
• If you are representing OT on any Government groups, please get in touch with Elizabeth.MacDonald@cot.co.uk who will try to link you in with appropriate people in COT
• People’s stories are very compelling in influencing opinion as to the value of OT to the public, or employers when budgets are tight. Contact Elizabeth.MacDonald@cot.co.uk if you have a story you would like to share.