Primary Care Occupational Therapy Service
Primary Care Occupational Therapy service
The Primary Care Occupational Therapy (PCOT) service model in Lanarkshire supports multi-disciplinary teams (MDT) working in GP practices to help patients see the right person at the right time.
The PCOT service supports individuals at risk of, or experiencing, a deterioration in functional performance due to changes in their physical and/or mental health. This may be at the onset of diagnosis or as they experience living with a long-term condition. The service offers a range of innovative, safe and effective early intervention and prevention approaches to help people manage activities of daily living, improve their health and wellbeing and promote self-management.
In Lanarkshire, the PCOT service was set up during the challenging times of the covid-19 pandemic – with NHS Lanarkshire being the first health board in Scotland to establish this type of service.
The roll-out is now complete and all GP practices in Lanarkshire have access to the PCOT service.
The animation below explains more about the PCOT service and what it can offer.
To visit the PCOT service webpage for patients, visit Primary Care Occupational Therapy Service | NHS Lanarkshire.
Service delivery
GPs and any member of the practice MDT can refer into the service. Patients can also refer themselves and receive a call to discuss if a PCOT appointment is right for them.
The duration of an episode of care varies, depending on patient need. Individuals who present to their GP with recent onset of mild-to-moderate health and wellbeing issues which impact on their function, may only require a brief episode of care. This could be one or two sessions, focusing on signposting, advice and education. Those with long-term conditions and more complex needs are likely to require lengthier episodes of care with an increased number of sessions.
Services are delivered locally through a combination of co-alignment within practices and locality hubs. A blended approach to service delivery is offered, dictated by clinical need and includes face-to-face appointments, telephone consultations, Near me consultations, home visits and community visits.
Impact on GP practices
Evaluation demonstrated that occupational therapy within GP practices has a positive impact on GP attendances and on GP workload, and offers a valued care option for GPs.
GPs completed a survey about the PCOT service which asked for feedback on accessing the service, outcomes for patients, and the PCOT role within the practice multi-disciplinary team and wider primary care services.
The feedback showed that the service helps support patients:
- to remain at/return to work, improve work-life balance;
- to cope with mild-moderate depression/anxiety/stress;
- to manage long-term conditions;
- who are frail and/or falling;
- who are living with chronic pain; and
- who are experiencing early changes to cognitive function.
Impact on primary care MDT and wider health and social care systems
Primary Care Occupational Therapy is an effective part of the evolving primary care MDT. To help streamline the patient journey and effect cost savings across health, social care and welfare expenditure.
The PCOT service has established effective reciprocal pathways with targeted services including: Community Rehabilitation Teams, GP Community Link Workers, Falls Service and Hand Therapy Services, in addition to GP practice colleagues, such as pharmacy and Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) colleagues. This supports the ‘no wrong door’ principle and streamlines the patient’s journey.
Evaluation
Evaluation has been at the core of the PCOT work and more information is available on the dedicated Evaluation webpage.
Videos about the different areas of the PCOT service
The short videos below focus on the different areas of the PCOT service:
