4th-10th November is National Occupational Therapy Week. Local Hospice Care charity Phyllis Tuckwell has a team of occupational therapists (OTs) who offer a range of support to help patients who are living with an advanced or terminal illness, such as cancer.
Caption: At Phyllis Tuckwell’s Rehabilitation and Goal Setting sessions, patients can learn techniques to help them remain as active and independent as possible.
“Occupational therapy is about supporting people to continue doing things which are important to them,” said Kirsten Holt, lead occupational therapist at Phyllis Tuckwell. “Our OTs do this by analysing each patient’s individual needs and helping set achievable goals to empower our patients and enable them to continue being as independent as possible.”
These daily ‘occupations’ contribute to patients’ physical, mental and social wellbeing. They encompass a wide range of activities, from brushing their teeth, doing the housework and walking their dog, to spending time with their child or grandchild, going for a drink with friends, or enjoying a long soak in the bath.
“Personal care, household chores and cooking are relevant to all of us, but each individual will also have things they want to do which are specific to them,” Kirsten continues. “Our OT team is uniquely trained in both mental and physical health and has a wide range of specialist skills and knowledge to enable us to assess and support each patient individually with these.”
Occupational therapy is a science-based, health and social care profession, and Phyllis Tuckwell’s OTs see patients at the charity’s Living Well sessions, which are run at the Beacon Centre in Guildford, on its In-Patient Unit in Camberley, and in patients’ own homes, through its Hospice at Home service. Many people know that OTs can supply equipment such as commodes and chair raisers, but often don’t know about the other support which they can offer.
“One of the first things we do is ask about what each patient wants or needs to do, and what matters to them most” says Kirsten. “We then work together with them and their loved ones to find solutions to the difficulties they are encountering. This could include providing equipment or finding new ways of doing things.”
Some patients may have symptoms such as breathlessness, anxiety, fatigue, or problems with sleep, which may have become a barrier to them being able to continue with activities which are important to them. If so, they may be invited to attend individual or group sessions which focus on ways to manage these symptoms.
“We support people at all stages of their illness and help them to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible,” says Kirsten. “It’s about continuing to live life with meaning while adapting to changes in ability”.
All our services are free, but this is only possible due to the generosity of our amazing community. The Government/NHS only provide 25% of our costs, so we need to raise over £25,000 every day to provide our vital services.
Please donate what you can to help keep hospice care available to all those in our community who need us.
