Amanda Evans
Service Director, Occupational Therapist
Allied Health Professionals working in Local Authority
Part 4
Day in the Life with Emma Robinson, Occupational Therapist in Calderdale Council
Day in the Life: Blog with Rhona Dresser
Hi, I’m Rhona and I am a Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist working in a Local Authority Equipment and Adaptations Team.
I have worked as a community OT in this team for 21 years. I am still very passionate and motivated by my role.
Every home I visit is different just as every client with a health condition/disability is different. This means the job is always challenging and fresh.
I still enjoy the feeling of seeing a client relieved after my initial assessment visit once we have discussed the many ways my intervention can improve their functional ability and independence within their home.
Every home I visit is different just as every client with a health condition/disability is different. This means the job is always challenging and fresh.
I recently had a busy day of follow up visits to evaluate the effectiveness of the various interventions I had put in place.
Morning
In the morning, I visited an empty bungalow to check the suitability of it to meet the needs of a wheelchair dependent client who was temporarily staying in a care home due to homelessness. I was able to make recommendations on how this property could be transformed to be fully wheelchair accessible.
I will work closely with the surveyor, medical rehousing officer and social worker going forward to make sure this property is suitable as an accessible home for the client.
Next visit
My following visit was to a Care Home to check the suitability of a supportive chair I had ordered for one of the residents. This involved assisting with hoisting into the chair and adjusting the chair dimensions to suit the client’s needs.
It is days like this, when I can evaluate and review how my intervention has helped the client to achieve their goals within their home environment, which give me a huge sense of job satisfaction.
Lunch and next visit
After a quick break for lunch, I was joined by a surveyor at a very large house where we discussed the feasibility of creating a ground floor shower and toilet facility to enable the client to be based on the ground floor. We also had to discuss the most appropriate solution for improving the access to the grade 2 listed building.
Next visit
The same surveyor also accompanied the second visit of the afternoon to check off a new stairlift that had recently been installed.
When I had visited this property a few months earlier, I had warned the client that I didn’t think it would be possible to install a stair lift on the staircase due to the narrow width of the staircase. The staircase was curved and there was a door on the stairs as well as one directly at the top of the stairs.
Thankfully, following advice from the surveyor, we had found a company that had recently brought out a new stairlift which would work in the space.
Final visit
My final visit of the day was with another surveyor to conduct a check off inspection of a newly built extension. This was to enable an elderly couple both with disabilities to continue to live with their extended family.
Although the property could have been adapted with a stair lift and converting the family bathroom into a level access shower facility, the family wanted to have an extension built so that the couple could be based on the ground floor.
The team were able to assist with accessing Disabled Facilities Grant funding towards this scheme through offsetting of costs towards the client’s preferred solution.
End of the day reflection
It is days like this, when I can evaluate and review how my intervention has helped the client to achieve their goals within their home environment, which give me a huge sense of job satisfaction.
