How our Paediatric Clinical Lead supports our clients and OT team
by Nikki Thompson
In this article we introduce Sam, our Paediatric Clinical lead, and highlight how the practical clinical support and professional development opportunities that she provides for the OT team, combined with service development and being on-hand for case managers to discuss complex cases; is resulting in you being reassured that our paediatric clients are receiving the highest standards of clinical care.
Sam joined The OT Practice team in 2022 bringing a wealth of front line and management experience and expertise from her 25-year paediatric OT career. Her role as our Paediatric Clinical Lead is part of the clinical governance team focused on continuously improving clinical delivery and standards. To achieve this, she has set up the following portfolio of support services to the OT team who are delivering the care to complex children referred by our paediatric case managers.
Paediatric Clinics
Sam runs these on a weekly basis for any member of the paediatric OT team to join. OT’s proactively book clinic appointments to discuss a range of issues from specific cases, clinical queries, career development and much more. The feedback from the team is that these are highly valuable to maintain professional networks whilst working independently.
Case Planning
For complex cases Sam will deliver support to the OT pre-assessment to plan and ensure we are delivering against the reason for referral and then post assessment to analyse findings and scope the recommendations. As cases progress Sam also provides case planning support to review progress against the intervention original goals and to plan the next steps. It is not uncommon with complex paediatric cases referred through case managers that we have more than one OT working together. One maybe looking at housing & equipment and one on the therapy component of sensory needs for example. Sam will support the team to co-ordinate and ensure specialist goals are ‘joined up’. OTs and case managers have remarked on how this support results in cases momentum whilst remaining goal and outcome focused
Quality Assurance
The OT Practice have an established Quality Assurance Team who check our paediatric OT reports prior to submission to a case manager. Sam is on hand for any cases that require an advanced second QA review due to clinical complexity. Case managers have commented on the detailed nature and robustness of our complex paediatric OT reports and the reassurance that it brings having an additional senior member of staff to review and advise on them as needed.
CPD Programme
Sam leads on our paediatric OT CPD programme. In 2023 The OT Practice launched ‘The Learning Lounge’, an internal facing professional learning and development platform with a wide catalogue of courses for the OT team to access. Sam manages the Paediatric Education Stream developing both new static courses and delivering live webinars and Q & A sessions. OTs have provided excellent feedback on the platform and the development opportunities it provides. Having this as a benefit to being an associate OT with us means we can attract, retain and therefore offer to case managers the highest calibre of paediatric OTs. Case managers have also fed back that our paediatric OT team are excellent at looking at cases without boundaries and having an awareness of the very latest services, technologies, treatment modalities and approaches within paediatric occupational therapy.
One to one support for OTs
Despite holding her own small case load, Sam provides one to one support to OTs as needed. There are multiple opportunities for the OTs to touch base with Sam through the more formal routes of case planning and clinics, but Sam is also on hand to support with the quick one-off questions that often arise during the assessment or treatment phases of a case. OTs have fed back that they find access to timely advice means their reports or actions are not delayed.
Direct support for office-based team
As clinical lead Sam knows all of the paediatric OT team well in terms of their skill sets and capacity. Sam will often support the office-based team who look after case management cases with matching cases to therapists to ensure we get the right fit. Case managers have complimented us on the appropriateness of the CVs we send through and Sams input at this stage is invaluable in achieving this.
Direct support for case managers
Many of our paediatric case managers referrers are OTs themselves and so will know exactly what they are looking for from their OT referral. When a case manager is from a different discipline or if they are newer to referring to us, they may well wish to speak to Sam to discuss the case and support with the referral. Sam also supports case managers with clinical queries on cases shared with us over and above the allocated case OT.
The introduction of the Paediatric Clinical Lead role to our team has led to a significant growth in both the paediatric OT team and our complex paediatric referrals from case managers. Having Sam offering the wide range of support services outlined above has offered case mangers the reassurance that their cases will be well looked after with us. We are delighted to be working in partnership with case managers nationally to make a tangible difference to the quality of life and independence for our youngest clients and their families.
If you have any new referrals to discuss with the team, please contact us directly to discuss if we can help on enquires@theotpractice.com or call us on 0330 0249910
