Southwark Council adopts virtual approach to prescribing daily living solutions
The social care team at Southwark Council is using virtual technology to enable them to more efficiently prescribe feasible outcomes to support activities of daily living and enable people to remain in their homes.
The Authority’s Children & Adult Services department at Southwark Council is using remote video conferencing as a platform to provide training on the practicalities and technicalities of stairclimbers as a realistic intervention.
Organised in coordination with stairclimber provider AAT, the virtual meeting enabled the occupational therapy team to explore the range of devices available and consider how these can be accessorised to gain insight into the practical considerations in prescribing a stairclimber.
Clare Weale, Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist at Southwark Council, said: “We need to have practical sessions to develop a technical framework as to what is feasible and therefore realistic as an intervention.
“With current working practices because of COVID, a virtual session was the closest we could come. Adoption of such new practice is essential for our team to continue to build on our professional skills, and deliver outcomes to improve people’s wellbeing, where stairs or steps present as environmental barriers to participation in daily living.
“The AAT virtual workshop was interesting and informative. It gave our clinicians the necessary knowledge of what may be a technically feasible option with more complex equipment prescription, that may not otherwise have been considered.”
AAT virtual technical training sessions help occupational therapists and adaptations teams prescribe solutions in the current socially distanced times.
The company can also assist with home assessments, be it remotely or in person, with appropriate social distancing measures applied for each scenario.
Gareth Brown, AAT Technical Director, commented: “If someone has impaired mobility, the perception on the whole is that they need a fairly major adaptation to their home to enable them to get up and down stairs.
“With COVID impacting so much on the practicality of occupational therapy teams across the country to undertake home assessments and expediate adaptations, there is growing need for alternative strategies that are realistic, practical interventions.
“Virtual conferencing is becoming an accepted methodology for meetings, home assessments and CPD sessions. It made logical sense to Southwark and us to extend its application for technical training, in situations where the healthcare professionals need to actually see how the function and scope of a device can be appropriate, and how it integrates with the PEOP model for a positive outcome.”
AAT virtual training can be arranged by contacting the office via sales@aatgb.com or 01978 821875