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Call for more information and costs or if you are enquiring for yourself or a family member you can use our online cost guide for individuals.

Services for Private Clients & Charities

At a time when the healthcare system is under increased strain, access to public services are restricted and people are feeling socially isolated, it is more important than ever, that we try to preserve independence and safety within the home.

Currently, being able to deliver care remotely is essential to ensure clients can continue to receive therapy, whilst minimising risk of COVID-19 transmission. Through embracing technology, The OT Practice are able to deliver a significant scope of occupational therapy services remotely. We can deliver services to private clients and their families, charities who are seeking support for beneficiaries, legal practices/advocates or any organisation supporting an individual.

Services we are delivering remotely

These are examples of services we are delivering remotely. Please give the team a call to discuss you client's specific needs.

Video & telephonic assessments

Most of our clinical assessments can be completed remotely if the client has the ability and technical capability to engage or they have support with them to help facilitate. We can also complete assessments telephonically where a client is not able to engage with video technology. Before going ahead, the OT will establish clinical suitability for a remote assessment as part of our risk assessment process, or to establish if a face to face visit is more appropriate. Read here for more information on our face to face visits.

The assessment process will be split into an initial preparatory call followed by a video meeting or phone call. The OT will provide immediate and practical advice and strategies to mitigate risk and promote independence. Video and telephonic assessments are open to all private individuals, organisations and charities where there is an occupational therapy need. To find out more about how we conduct remote assessments and input see our Remote Services page.

Remote treatment and rehabilitation programmes

No matter how we deliver therapy, interventions remain client centred and goal orientated. From our experience, often treatment and rehabilitation programmes can be delivered remotely to clients via online video conferencing, without compromise.

The OT Practice is now adopting a fluid model encompassing remote and face to face interventions, meaning in some circumstances we may use a hybrid of both methods to ensure the best outcome, while minimising risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Remote support for equipment provision

Where it is clinically appropriate, we can recommend and support with equipment provision through innovative methods of practice, ensuring where equipment is needed and where practically possible, it can still be provided to clients.

Hospital discharges

We recognise the importance of reducing the number of clients in an acute hospital setting and the challenges that arranging a rapid discharge can bring. Many elements of a client’s occupational therapy needs for hospital discharge can be successfully co-ordinated remotely and our hospital discharge service is designed to provide this support and guide families through the process. For those clients with more complex needs, where appropriate, we would endeavour complete a face to face visit. Find out more about our Face to face visits.

Routine Planning

With our general routines being altered and disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can seem over whelming for clients to plan and manage their time. Part of the assessment process is for the occupational therapists to work collaboratively with the client to establish their goals and interests. This allows them to create a bespoke daily routine with flexibility built in that provides focus and engagement for the client.

The step by step process

  1. Call or email the office team to discuss the needs of your client, yourself or your family member. We will send you a quote and referral form for the relevant service.
  2. Complete the referral form we send you.
  3. We will then contact the client, you or your family member (depending on the service requested). If we are providing an assessment we will be in touch for an initial screening call. In this call we will complete a risk assessment to ensure the client will be able to engage with a remote assessment either telephonically or via video conference (using Zoom). If we do not feel that the client is suitable for a remote assessment either due to their emotional, physical or cognitive ability to engage or because we consider them to be high risk we will highlight this. We will then discuss whether you / they meet the criteria for a home visit as defined by our essential services.
  4. If during the call the OT feels it is clinically appropriate to proceed with a remote assessment, we will arrange a mutually agreed assessment time for this to take place. The OT will then provide details for the assessment and any preparation tasks required.
  5. The assessment will occur via the pre agreed method (telephone or video conference) and the report will be sent within 7 days.

Working differently

We recognise that some people will have a good level of technical ability themselves or through the support of others. In these situations arranging a video call will be relatively straightforward, however for others it will be more unfamiliar and will require time and support from us, both for set up and the acclimatisation, before we are in a position to maximise any therapeutic benefit. This is part of our role and would often contribute to part of our assessment. There are a variety of tools and techniques available to us to ensure the success of remotely delivered intervention. To find out more about how we conduct remote assessments and input see our Remote Services page.

Timeframes

Through the remote model, the timeframe between referral and assessment can be significantly reduced, offering clients more immediate access to therapeutic support. The assessments will be broken down into the initial screening call and the online assessment as detailed above with the initial call happening as soon as possible following referral. It is important to have time between the initial call and the assessment to allow the client to prepare, this typically would be no more than 2 working days. For family telephonic consultations, these are able to happen in a timely fashion and possibly on the same day as the referral being completed.

Deliverables

As the referrer/client you will still receive all documents that we would normally provide had the sessions been face to face. These include an assessment report, quotes to implement recommendations and in the case of on-going treatment programmes, monthly invoices.

Duty of care

During this time we recognise that clients are likely to have a heighten sense of anxiety and possibly loneliness. As healthcare professionals, our first priority is to ensure that clients are safe and well. If we identify during our initial call that the client is need of emotional or physical support we will provide advice and guidance where we can.

[Find out more about how remote assessments work and technology requirements](/coronavirus/ot-practice-online#howremoteworks){.o-btn}


**You can also visit our main pages to find out more about how we work with [Private Individuals](/who-we-work-with/private-individuals) and [Charities](/who-we-work-with/charity-benevolent-funds).**