Primary Care Occupational Therapy Service
Telephone: 01698 755 175
Who are we?
Primary care occupational therapists (OTs) help people who have noticed that the everyday activities that they need or want to do are starting to become more difficult.
The Primary Care Occupational Therapy service is based in GP surgeries across Lanarkshire. The information below will help to identify if an assessment from Primary Care Occupational Therapy might be helpful.
What do we do?
We know that getting support early on when your health changes is important. Your Occupational Therapist will work with you to explore the difficulties you are experiencing in your daily routine and set realistic goals with you. Difficulties may include:
At Home
- Personal Care
- Housework
- Cooking
- Hobbies and Leisure
In the Community
- Using public transport
- Shopping
- Socialising
- Being physically active
At Work
- Support to return to or maintain working role
- Carer roles
- Volunteering
- Education
These difficulties may be due to recent changes in your health, such as:
- Anxiety
- Fear of falling
- Pain
- Low mood
- Work-life balance
- Stress
- Frailty
- Memory concerns
- Fatigue
Working together we can offer you practical support, education and advice to help you manage your health and do the activities that you need or want to do.
For example:
- Learning skills to help you live well with pain or fatigue-related conditions
- Developing practical coping strategies to manage stress, anxiety and low mood
- Supporting you to remain at work, return to work or improve work-life balance
- Supporting you to age well
- Offering advice about aids and equipment that could make your life easier
Our animation below will tell you a little more about what we offer.
Who can access the Primary Care Occupational Therapy service?
You need to be:
- Registered with a Lanarkshire GP practice;
- Aged 16 or over and not in school;
- noticing a change in your ability to carry out your usual roles and activities; and
If you are already in contact with another service which offers occupational therapy, (for example community mental health team, addiction services or community rehabilitation teams), please ask your health worker to link you in with their occupational therapist.
How to access the service
You can:
- Telephone our hub on 01698 755 175 and speak to one of our admin staff or leave a message with your contact details
- Pick up a leaflet from your GP surgery, fill in the tear off slip and hand it in to the GP receptionist
- Ask your GP or other health professional within your GP practice to refer you to our service
What to expect from us
Once we receive your referral, an occupational therapist will telephone you to find out if primary care OT is the right service for you.
We may direct you to another service if this would meet your needs better. If we feel primary care occupational therapy could meet your needs, we will arrange a longer appointment to get to know you better and find out what matters to you.
We will discuss your health, the difficulties you are experiencing, your routine, roles, interests and goals. We may also use formal assessments to help us plan your treatment programme.
Your occupational therapy appointments may take place at your GP surgery, over the phone, by video call or in your own home.
What we expect from you
Working with primary care occupational therapy, you’ll agree goals together with your therapist and work at a pace that is right for you. This will work best if you are ready and able to commit to regular appointments and to focus on trying out new strategies between your sessions.
Feedback
The Primary Care Occupational Therapy Team welcome feedback and are keen to understand what you found helpful during your contact with us and what we can improve on.
Click on our recent stories to read what patients have to say about Primary Care Occupational Therapy.
"Short term anxiety"
"I didn’t think I’d feel this way again"
"The staff involved were superb"
"I took a lot from the service, which I would rate as excellent"
We care about your opinion
If you have experience of working with Primary Care Occupational Therapy and would like to share your story please see below contact details below for Care Opinion.
Website
Visit: www.careopinion.org.uk/2923/primarycareoccupationaltherapy
Telephone
Call Care Opinion on: 0800 122 3135
If you would prefer to have support from our team to complete this process, please don’t hesitate to call us on 01698 755 175 or e-mail occupationaltherapyprimarycareteam@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
Self Help Resources
We are committed to providing you with information that is both reliable and based on the latest up-to-date evidence.
Below are a range of self- help resources which you may find useful.
Fatigue
Fatigue can affect your ability to care for yourself, enjoy hobbies, work or spend time with loved ones.
Visit Lift up your everyday – Royal College of Occupational Therapy for resources which could help you:
- Understand your fatigue and how it affects your daily life
- Learn energy saving strategies like pacing, planning and prioritising
- Adapt your routine and environment to support management of fatigue
- Build confidence in managing your day to day activities
Make use of an activity timetable to record activity, fatigue battery levels and plan activities:
For a Personal Fatigue diary visit:
Sleep
Poor sleep can have a significant impact on your ability to manage your health needs and everyday function.
NHS Inform- Sleep Problems
The Good Night Guide to Sleep
Sleep Hygiene
Sleepio
A personalised programme to support a better night’s sleep. Designed by an expert team this app brings tried and tested techniques to you in a friendly step-by step way.
Cognitive Shuffling – Mindfulness tool
Falls
Falls are one of the leading causes of injury—especially among older adults—and they can have a big impact on your confidence, independence, and quality of life. But the good news is: many falls are preventable.
The following resources could help you:
- Understand factors impacting falls
- Make simple changes at home to improve your safety
- Learn strategies to support you remaining active whilst reducing your risk of falling
NHS Inform- Preventing Falls
NHS Lanarkshire: Every Move Counts- Physical Activity
Up and About- Falls Prevention
Pain
Living with pain can affect every part of your life. At times, it may feel overwhelming or limit your ability to do the things that matter most to you.
The following recourses could help you:
- Understand your pain and how it affects your daily activities
- Develop strategies to support your management of pain
- Adapt your routines to make everyday tasks more manageable
- Build confidence in returning to activities that matter to you.
NHS Inform- Chronic Pain
Live Well with Pain
10 Footsteps to Living Well with Pain
Flippin Pain
Arthritis UK
Relaxation and Mindfulness
In today’s fast-paced world, stress, anxiety, and low mood can significantly impact your health and quality of life. Whether you’re managing a long-term condition, recovering from illness, or feeling overwhelmed effective tools to help you relax is important.
Lanarkshire Mind Matters
NHS Inform- Anxiety Self Help Guide
Stress Leaflet
Frantic World- Mindfulness Resources
Belly Breathing
Mind – Relaxation and Coping Exercise
Activity Monitoring
An activity diary is a simple and effective tool that helps you understand how your daily activities affect your health and wellbeing.
Whether you’re managing a long-term condition, recovering from illness, or simply looking to improve your daily balance, an activity diary can offer valuable insights.
OT Activity Diary
Self-Practice Record Form
Work
Good work is good for our health and being at work can support our recovery from ill health, is likely to improve our mental wellbeing and can contribute to a healthy work-life balance.
Here are some resources that may help you when your health is affecting your ability to work or when you are looking to return to work after a period of sick leave:
Health and Work leaflet
Wellness Action Plan for Work
Offers guidance to help you consider what coping strategies enable you to manage your health at work.
DSE workstation checklist
Many of us spend a lot of our time at work using a PC or a laptop. This could be in an office or at home. This checklist provides a self-assessment of your workstation to ensure that it is set up correctly, minimising negative effects of poor posture on your health and wellbeing.
Posturite
Downloadable advice sheets related to ergonomics, posture, healthy working from home and other health-related topics.
Other services you may find helpful
Equipment and Adaptations
South Lanarkshire Small Aids and Equipment
North Lanarkshire Small Aids and Equipment
Lanarkshire Care & Repair
North Social Work Occupational Therapy
South Social Work Occupational Therapy
Physiotherapy
MSK Physiotherapy
Walking Aids and Splints
Welfare Rights
- Money Matters Advice Service – South Lanarkshire Council
- Welfare rights services | North Lanarkshire Council
Citizens advice
Mental Wellbeing
Lanarkshire Mind Matters
Wellbeing Matters
Carers
Lanarkshire Carers
Community Partners
VASLAN – Third sector South Lanarkshire interface
VANL – Third sector North Lanarkshire interface
Well Connected Lanarkshire
