Inpatient Occupational Therapy

The team works closely with the wider Multi-Disciplinary Team, attending a morning handover to discuss patients' progress/needs and to identify new referrals for any patients who would benefit from an OT assessment during their hospital stay. The OT team work closely with patients and families to identify the most appropriate discharge location once they are medically well enough to leave the acute hospital. The OT team assess a patient’s activities of daily living to identify any equipment or care needs.  They can refer patients for either in-patient rehabilitation or community therapy in the patient’s own home.

This team works very closely with the wide multi-disciplinary team participating in an MDT handover daily. Within this handover, the team discusses the progress of patients, identifies new referrals to OT and starts to identify the discharge pathways for each patient.

The Orthopaedic and Surgery team assess and supports patients and their families, to manage their activities of daily living once discharged from the acute hospital setting, this can include the provision of equipment, and onward referral to community services and other organisations.

We typically see patients who have had fixations following a fractured hip, fractured ankles, abdominal surgery, lower limb amputations and elective joint replacements. In addition to hospital discharges, we are also responsible for the fabrication and provision of some splints and braces for patients throughout the hospital. We also have strong links with the Outpatient Hand therapy and Rheumatology team.

We work​​​​​​​ closely with our multidisciplinary team. We provide early physical, cognitive, and psychosocial rehabilitation. Patients who are admitted to critical care often suffer critical care-acquired weakness, Occupational Therapists support the role of early mobilisation and engaging in functional tasks such as personal care tasks and feeding.

Critical Care acquired delirium is common, particularly post-invasive ventilation; The Occupational Therapist's role is to support the assessment of delirium, provide orientation, assess functional performance of daily activities and provide early sensory integration. We work closely with the multidisciplinary team to assess risk and set individualised goals.

The Acute Care Therapy Team (ACTT) comprises both Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists with support staff including assistants and technical instructors. Each team member has competencies in shared skills, therefore, each patient will usually only require assessment from one member of the team.

The team are based at the front door of the hospital and covers the Emergency Department, Emergency Management Unit, Short Stay Unit, Same Day Emergency Care, the Acute Frailty Unit and Pearson Ward (frailty ward). The ethos of ACTT is ‘Home First’ and assessments are carried out to support early discharge from hospital or prevent admission into the hospital. A range of assessments are completed which include obtaining a social history, transfers and mobility assessments, prescription of equipment and walking aids, stairs assessments and referrals to other services, such as adult care for care packages and community therapy for follow-up at home.

The service covers a combined Stroke Unit (hyper-acute, acute and rehabilitation), as well as a community Early Supported Discharge (ESD) service covering Chesterfield and North Derbyshire. The team also treat inpatients with other neurological conditions.

The team work very closely with the Stroke MDT, based on Eastwood Ward and has a custom-built Therapy Unit (Speedwell) located in close proximity. Speedwell Therapy Unit contains rehabilitation equipment and an assessment suite, where patients can be assessed and treated. Occupational Therapists assess Stroke patients as soon as possible after admission, formulate and implement rehabilitation plans and are heavily involved in the complex discharge planning of these patients. The team often have meetings with patient’s families, completes assessments of the home and orders the required equipment prior to the patient leaving hospital.