Occupational Therapy News OTnews January 2019 | Page 52

The new Strategic Intentions were developed over several months, during which
our chief executive Julia Scott travelled across the four nations to meet
members and to hear first-hand what you thought our key priorities should
be for the next five-year period.
At the event we launched our new pledge campaign, for which all
stakeholders, with members at the head, are encouraged to make
personal pledges of how they will contribute to making the Intentions
a reality, and ultimately to secure the future of the profession.
We also launched a major new report as part of the Improving
Lives, Saving Money campaign. The report, titled Getting my life back:
occupational therapy promoting mental health and wellbeing, included
four specific country versions that looked closely at the situation in each
UK nation, and was launched in all four nations at different events. The
engagement with stakeholders was very positive. Over 60 MPs attended an
event at Westminster, with the event supported by the Labour Campaign for
Mental Health; 21 Assembly Members attended the event in Wales; in Northern Ireland the report was launched
at the annual conference by the Lord Mayor of Belfast; in Scotland 16 MSPs attended a publication event.
June 2018
The 2018 Annual Conference was held in Belfast for the first time in twenty years. It was also the first time
we work jointly with the Association of Occupational Therapy in Ireland (AOTI), with several AOTI members as
delegates and presenters.
We had 1,133 participants, and 91 per cent of
respondents to our feedback survey rated the
event good or excellent, with all agreeing that
the diversity, vibrancy and general buzz of the
programme was very good.
91%
OF RESPONDENTS RATED
OUR ANNUAL CONFERENCE
GOOD OR EXCELLENT
We had four plenary sessions from Chris Pointon, co-founder of the #Hellomynameis campaign, Paul Burstow,
President of the Telecare Services Association, Dr Duncan Pentland, RCOT R&D Board Vice Chair and Lecturer,
and David MacDonald, a campaigner for disabled people in society. The Casson Lecture was delivered by Dr Nick
Pollard, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at Sheffield Hallam University.
The mix and balance of sessions was very well received by delegates, there were 234 abstracts presentations,
including 100 posters (facilitated and static). Sessions on dementia, mental health, palliative care, emergency care
and occupational justice were particularly popular, as were the pick and mix sessions which consisted of a variety
of presentation formats and topics.
There was a Specialist Sections Zone in the exhibition hall, which proved very popular with delegates and 113 new
specialist section members were recruited over the duration of conference.
The social media presence was again phenomenal this year, and #RCOT2018 was trending at the UK number
one by the time opening plenary commenced. A live twitter wall was displayed in the exhibition hall, and was well
received.
July 2018
Sir Keith Pearson, Chair of Health Education England, visited the Barnsley Hospitals NHS Trust as a result of the
Improving Lives, Saving Money campaign. It was his first visit to a therapy service and resulted in a raised profile for
the service with senior managers.
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