Hazel Mackey
International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation 11(6): 259
- 266
(Jun 2004)
The health and social care environment in Britain is undergoing rapid change and reorganization, which requires occupational therapy practitioners to consider the service they provide, the skill mix needed to support service provision and the boundaries, roles and relationships between professionally qualified staff and support workers. A study, using a qualitative design, was conducted to discover what occupational therapy practitioners perceive to be the major factors that need to be addressed before an extended role for support workers can be implemented. Five focus group interviews were conducted with occupational therapy practitioners, both qualified and unqualified, from a large NHS community trust in the West Midlands.Five key factors emerged: the need to increase role clarity; to lessen role threat; to review organizational effectiveness; to ensure clear delegation; and to design and implement responsive training programmes.
To view this article
