Occupational Therapy in Vocational clinics (OTVoc)
For further details about the study, please see this statement from the Royal College of Therapists (RCOT):
The pilot schemes will support people with musculoskeletal and/ or mental health problems stay in or return to work and will be delivered in Southampton and South Wales in partnership with University of Nottingham, Solent NHS Trust and Hywel Dda University Health Board. The occupational therapy clinics will use a stepped care model ranging from brief self-management advice to employer liaison and rehabilitation. Each person using the service will receive a personalised Allied Health Professions Advisory Fitness for Work Report which they can share with their GP and employer.
The government’s policy paper, Improving Lives, the Future of Work, Health and Disability, (Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care 2017), aims to legislate for extension of fit note certification powers to other healthcare professionals and for more employers to use the for Allied Health Professions Advisory Fitness for Work Report for Statutory Sick Pay purposes. The occupational therapy led vocational clinics will help our understanding of how occupational therapists could use fit note certification powers and how employers could use their advice. The study will end in February 2020.