Reablement: The Added Value of Occupational Therapists

If local authorities want to achieve the best outcomes for both their service users and demonstrable cost benefit for their reablement services they need to involve occupational therapists

Reablement either prevents the need for hospital admission or post-hospital transfer to long term care, or appropriately reduces the level of ongoing home care support required and associated costs.

Occupational therapists deliver personalised services that:

• focus on an individual’s occupational needs in terms of leisure work and other activities that aid mental and physical health and wellbeing.
• use their skills in working across both health and social care bringing added knowledge of other interventions that may aid recovery and reablement . They are therefore good at signposting service users to other services.
• utilise their knowledge of disabling conditions and their impact so that reablement is specifically tailored to the individual and takes into account the likely progress of their condition
• make them well placed to provide enhanced training to home care staff to deliver efficient and effective reablement services (Glendinning and Newbronner 2008).

Occupational therapists’ core skills are key to preventative services and are underpinned by an evidence base that demonstrates clear cost benefits and successful patient reported
outcomes.

Private File:
Download Reablement: The Added Value of Occupational Therapists