We work in all sectors – NHS, Social Care, Private Healthcare, schools, prisons, solicitors to name but a few and we work with all ages of people, their families, and carers. We are also one of the only AHPs who work across mental health and physical health.
The high-level goal of Occupational Therapy is to help you live your best life at home, at work, and everywhere else! It’s about being able to do the “occupations” or activities you need, want, and must do. These activities could range from being able to wash yourself, get upstairs to go to bed, meet up with friends for a coffee or simply doing the dishes and include any other activities in between.
Occupational Therapists are people who see you beyond your diagnosis or limitations. We focus on your hopes and aspirations enabling you to be more independent than you ever thought possible. We work with you to recommend adjustments to the way you live by looking at the relationship between the activities you want or need to do every day, the challenges you’re facing, and your environment – for example your home, bedroom, or car. These adjustments are practical, realistic, and personal to you, to help you achieve the breakthroughs you need to elevate your everyday life.
An example is that you may tell us you would really like to be able to wash yourself more easily but are currently struggling to get in and out of the bath. An Occupational Therapist will chat with you about the barriers you are currently facing to do that – any physical difficulties such as not being able to lift your legs high enough to get in or feeling unbalanced when doing so. We will also look at what type of bath you have, do you have an over bath shower, how much room do you have, do you like to soak in the bath or prefer a quick shower. After talking it through we will be able to give you a range of options to help you to wash yourself such as the use of equipment, suggesting a new technique to wash yourself or adapting the bathroom you have, to make life easier.
Occupational Therapists at NRS Healthcare
At NRS Healthcare we have a clinical team of 140 people, over 60 of whom are qualified and registered Occupational Therapists. They are highly experienced professionals who work across the whole of the NRS Healthcare business making a difference to both our colleagues and the people who use and touch our services. Some of the work our Occupational Therapists do includes:
- Supporting our 21 NHS and Social Care Community Equipment contracts across England from Hull to Torbay and the 25,000 healthcare professionals who work across them. These contracts deliver vital equipment to over a quarter of a million people each year
- Making sure that the very specialist equipment, no longer needed by the person the NHS or Social Care originally bought for, is available and encourage to be reused safely and appropriately by someone else in need
- Training local healthcare professionals, support staff, and NRS colleagues in the correct use of equipment available to support the people using their services
- Providing help and advice (via the telephone, live chat or email) to our retail customers from Healthcare Pro and Complete Care Shop. This enables people to be able to purchase the correct items of equipment to support them to live more independently than they ever thought possible
- Training our colleagues in driver technician and customer service roles on how the equipment they sell or deliver should be installed and used safely
- Supporting safeguarding training across our services and supporting our colleagues on the front line who raise safeguarding concerns
- Assessing people with postural and mobility difficulties across our three wheelchair contracts and making sure they have the right chair at the right time
- Innovating independence and care with the increased use of technology enabled care (TEC) – helping people to stay safe, supported, and connected at home. This happens across our five TEC contracts as well as for our private customers
- Assessing people virtually or at their homes across the UK who may need support such as adaptations to allow them to carry on living independently. This could include anything from a level access shower to a ramp, stairlift, or an adapted extension to their home
- Supporting our colleagues who may be carers themselves by providing advice and information and practical support
Our Occupational Therapists work hard every day to ensure the people who use our services across NRS Healthcare are receiving the best services, choices, and support. We are proud of our contribution towards breaking down those barriers older and disabled people can face and making the world and fairer place. As someone who recently used our Isle of Wight service said about one of our Occupational Therapists:
"It’s people like you who go “above and beyond” that really brighten up my day. I’m surrounded by people who are supposed to be carers, but they far from care in my experience. Keep up the good work – it’s people like you who keep people like me going!”