60 s for AHPs Day - SBH
What is your job title?
Macmillan Neuro-oncology Occupational Therapist
What does being an AHP mean to you?
There is a saying that doctors or medical treatment adds years to life, but AHPs add life to years.
In a nutshell, this sums up what is so important about having AHPs in healthcare. As AHPs, we are in the fortunate position of being able to work with people as individuals to improve the quality of their lives by helping them to regain function and satisfaction that they may have lost in the process of their illness.
For cancer patients and those with long term or progressive conditions that I work with, this can provide a focus to their lives away from being unwell and with some optimism for the future in spite of on-going treatment.
What attracted you to becoming an Occupational Therapist?
I knew I wanted to work directly with people, and had always had an interest in biology and health care. When I was doing some research about where to take my career after my undergraduate degree I came across Occupational Therapy and was drawn to the huge scope for working with all groups of people in a wide variety of settings.
How did you become an Occupational Therapist?
I took a somewhat convoluted route to my current career. I studied Microbiology and Immunology as an undergraduate, before working for a short time in clinical trials.
I then decided to retrain for a more people-facing role and went back to university where I gained my Masters degree in Occupational Therapy (pre-registration).
However, it is possible to study Occupational Therapy as an undergraduate degree straight from A’levels, and we will soon see the introduction of an apprenticeship route for AHPs which I think has huge potential to offer concurrent NHS experience as people train.
What does your job involve day to day?
There is no such thing as a typical patient in the service I work in, as I can see patients with any neurological impairment as a result of their cancer or cancer treatment.
Typically I will see up to 5 patients per day to provide intensive therapy to address their individual goals. As an Occupational Therapist my role focuses on functional performance, so often I will be working with patients on tasks they are struggling with that they will need to complete when they return home, such as washing and dressing, meal preparation, interacting with people in the community, and even returning to work.
One of the things I like best in my role is the scope to work on what is a priority for the patient, and this can be anything, from physical performance to impaired cognition. I can get quite creative when required, which is gratifying.
On top of my clinical work I also ensure patients’ therapy continues when they leave the acute setting by making referrals to community services. As I am working on a new service that's unique to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, I also write reports and look at data to support the continuation of this service for the benefit of patients in the future.
Due to the novel nature of the work, this has involved presenting our projects' findings at conferences, and we even took our work to the European Cancer Rehab and Survivorship Symposium in Copenhagen a few weeks ago with the support of Macmillan and the Barts Guild.
What do you like most about your job?
No two days are the same in my job and there are always new and varied challenges; we are always thinking of how we can make services and interventions better and more effective for patients.
The biggest draw however is the patients; we work so closely with people and become so invested in the differences that can be made to their lives. Seeing the impact on patients and their families as they regain independence or re-engage in something they love doing never fails to bring me joy.
What’s your proudest achievement as an Occupational Therapist?
My proudest achievement so far is seeing the astounding results our team have achieved on the project in its first six months.
As well as reducing length of stay for our patient cohort, we were able to see that all our patients felt that their quality of life had improved and they were all able to do more for themselves than when we first met them. The results exceeded our expectations, and we have been able to present the project to professionals in various disciplines and from countries across Europe and beyond.
I am confident that we will continue to show the benefit of AHP involvement in cancer care, and that we can make a difference to the quality of life for cancer patients and survivors as the project continues.
What would you tell someone who is thinking of becoming an Occupational Therapist?
I think the best thing you can do is get some work experience with an Occupational Therapy team. There is no substitute for seeing the real impact of what we do with patients. I also think this profession suits people with experience in other areas of work, so for anyone thinking of switching careers they would have a lot to offer from whatever they were doing before, and it’s never too late!
What has been your biggest challenge in your role?
I think the biggest challenge in my role is working within the restrictions of the acute environment. We can’t always work directly on what the patients would like to because they are based on a hospital ward; however this does mean that we get to be creative with our therapy sessions. Often, the biggest challenges bring the greatest rewards!
If you could do another AHP role for a day, what role would it be and why?
There are so many AHP roles I would love to have experience of from Speech and Language Therapy to Art Therapy, but I think if I had to pick one I would go for Diagnostic Radiography!
I love looking at scans and the Radiographers are enormously skilled at interpreting these, which I would love to be able to do. A lot of their work goes on behind the scenes, but it’s so fascinating, and the impact of what they do is so vitally important in treating patients. I think it’s a great illustration of how hospitals function as a team, and AHPs roles are so important in ensuring patients continue to live lives they enjoy during and after their treatment.