On Friday 5th July this year, the inaugural Occupational Therapy Excellence Awards took place to honour practitioners and organisations within the occupational therapy community.
Guests were welcomed to an elegant lunchtime event at the National Conference Centre, Birmingham, where they were given red carpet treatment on arrival as glasses of fizz flowed and delicious canapes were offered up. This welcoming environment hit the perfect note for an afternoon of celebration for the profession, and offered finalists and guests the chance to mingle, network and offer congratulations.
As guests were ushered through to take their seats for the main event there was much anticipation in the air, and following a wonderful three-course lunch, the Awards were under way.
Hosted exceptionally by Rosie Pickering, one of the organisers of the Awards, Rosie skilfully led the room in excitement and fun, ensuring all the finalists, winners, judges, sponsors and guests felt involved in the celebrations. Awards were announced to cheers and shouts from the lucky tables and the presentations on stage were met with much exuberance.
The afternoon was a true celebration of occupational therapy and it was wonderful to witness the positive energy and enthusiasm that filled the room. We can’t wait to see what next year will have in store for the occupational therapy community!
JUDGES & SPONSORS A big thank you is extended to the judges who were involved in reviewing this year’s entries, and the sponsors who supported these Awards.
JUDGES Adrian Bradley -Director of Operations, Children’s Therapy Solutions
Victoria McDermott - Head of Case Management, Breakthrough Case Management Ltd
Angela Skrabania - Clinical Development Lead, Enabled Living Healthcare
Matthew Box - Occupational Therapist, Inclusion.Me Ltd
Kate Sheehan - Occupational Therapist, The OT Service
Fiona Suleman - Wheelchair Service Manager, Enabled Living Healthcare
Alice Vincenti - Occupational Therapist, The Parent Health Hub
SPONSORS
Below are the list of Winners of the Occupational Therapy ExcellenceAwards 2024.
GOLD AWARDS
Most Innovative PracticeWinner – Cup-O-T: Wellness and Therapy Services
The Cup-O-T Campfire Community is a mental health occupational therapy group programme for young people aged 7-18 in a beautiful woodland setting. Their aim is to break free from clinic room walls, throw away worksheets and use nature and the woodland environment to build resilience, work through trauma, and build connection. Through these occupational therapy groups they are led by young people to find a way to live and flourish, not just exist.
Most Effective Independent Practice
Winner - Hunrosa
Hunrosa is a leading specialist sleep service in the UK, operating since 2012, trusted by the NHS, local and national charities. The team comprises of sleep consultants from various backgrounds, including two occupational therapists. They value sleep as a 24-hour occupation and it is why their values underpin intervention provided. The core values of Hunrosa are akin to OT values such as being client-centred and inclusive, with honesty and integrity being embedded in practice. Outcome measures are paramount to successful delivery of their contracts, as is transparency with yearly evaluation reports being published.
Best OT University CourseWinner – University of Gloucestershire
In 2022, University of Gloucestershire responded to local workforce need by commencing a brand new HCPC and RCOT-accredited BSc(Hons) course in occupational therapy. The course uses innovative methods of teaching to prepare the future workforce. Recognising the changing environment of health and social care, the course embraces creativity and sustainability, making full use of the rewilded, semi-rural campus. In addition to frequent simulation activities, their students are engaged in experiential learning and contemporary practice placements. All students have the opportunity to engage in role-emerging settings which enhance their professional identity.
Best Employer
Winner – Enabled Living Healthcare
Enabled Living is a unique, people-first employer. Their pioneering co-production strategy sees OTs designing services in partnership with the people who draw on them. Their health and wellbeing innovations have won them the FSB Wellbeing Award, and their retention rate of 98% is evidence of how they listen and get things right for OTs. Using values based recruitment, they ensure they all share the same motivations and goals from the very start, and this fosters a close, friendly team without hierarchy, where everyone’s suggestions are equally valued. They are the small team that is bucking national OT employment trends.
Best Equipment Provider
Winner – Dignity Access
The aim of the WashPod range is to provide dignified bathing as quickly as possible to allow people to remain in their own home, or to return home, when access to their bathroom is no longer possible due to disability or immobility. Time is of the essence when people are vulnerable, trying to get home from hospital or coping with a terminal illness. WashPod can maximise the best use of a person’s time.
CATEGORY AWARDS
Excellence in Paediatrics
Winner – Carly Budd Developmental Play Academy
In 2020, Carly Budd created an online training school aimed at professionals working with families across health and social care, education, and the parent and baby wellbeing sector to provide evidence based on theoretical and practical knowledge on the true depths of tummy time and baby play. Increasing awareness of tummy time as a position for play that promotes development, and loving playful interaction with parents and caregivers has had a huge impact and Carly now has over 350 practitioners across globe supporting thousands of families thanks to this training and education.
Award of Merit - DOTS for Children
DOTS for Children’s project focuses on developing a more effective way of working for clients with neurodiversity who are transitioning from paediatric services to adult mental health services as there is currently a very poor transition. Two independent practices came together to create a new working model to bridge the gap for clients with neurodiversity who struggle to make the transition but have the capacity to enter adulthood successfully.
Excellence in Rehab and Reablement
Winner – Leonard Cheshire, ARBI Unit
Naomi Brown set up Leonard Cheshire’s Alcohol Related Brain Injury (ARBI) Unit in Northern Ireland. As the first ARBI specific rehabilitation service in Ireland, it required a therapist to establish the role and demonstrate the rehabilitation benefits for this population. Naomi has brought her core occupational therapy skills to the role, embedding a culture of holistic rehabilitation, focusing on service user-led goals, the importance of routine, and the therapeutic value of meaningful occupation. She demonstrates expertise in cognitive and physical rehabilitation, addictions management, and graded activity to support individualised rehabilitation.
Excellence with Mental HealthWinner – Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation TrustThe Occupation Matters programme is an innovative and evidence-based occupational therapy intervention for people who are experiencing mental health conditions. The programme promotes the redesign of participants’ lifestyles to develop healthy activities, pursue meaningful occupations and develop a life worth living. This is achieved through the Lifestyle Redesign© principles, occupational storytelling and making, self-analysis and shared positive experiences. It is designed around modules which the participants choose, and the occupational therapists design bespoke sessions to meet the unique needs of that cohort. Each module ends with an outing where developed skills can be practised, creating radiating change.
Best Partnership
Winner – Enabled Living Healthcare
What makes Enabled Living different is their commitment to co-production, because it is the partnership that counts the most. Since their co-production strategy was introduced, it has significantly redesigned services, impacted recruitment and funding decisions and shaped the future of the organisation. It has no doubt been responsible for the many organisational wins that Enabled Living have enjoyed but beyond this it is an action for social justice.; it is the amplification of the voices that matter and a determination to break down the barriers between “them” and “us” until there is only us.
Award of Merit – DOTS for Children
Purpose People Ltd (mental health adult OT) and DOTS for Children (paediatric OT) created a partnership that aimed to provide a bridge for young adults with neurodiversity to successfully enter the job market, live independently, and achieve their aspirations as an adult. Their aim is to create an effective model of working between paediatric and adult services for this client group.
Excellence in Emerging Roles
Winner – Sport for Confidence
Sport for Confidence is an innovative organisation aiming to tackle health inequalities and physical inactivity through placing occupational therapists and sports coaches into leisure centres. They use physical activity to support a sense of belonging within local communities they work in. They also provide primary care and long COVID services with a focus on decreasing health inequalities and promoting meaningful physical activity, and they work strategically at a national level to promote health equity and physical activity in occupational therapy practice.
Excellence in Charity Sector
Winner – Cup-O-T: Wellness and Therapy Services
Winner – Cup-O-T: Wellness and Therapy Services has been commissioned by Breckland Council and Breckland Youth Advisory Board (YAB) to provide support to young people who are on mental health waiting lists, and their families. Breckland YAB are made up of young people aged 11-19 who live or study in Breckland, and campaign about the issues that matter to them. In 2021/22 they were commissioned to work with 40 families. In 2023/24 they were recommissions to work with 100 families living in the Breckland area. Build Together Breckland Families provides interactive, occupation-focused and activity-based workshops for young people.
Award of Merit – Growing Hope
Growing Hope is a charity that provide free therapy for children and young people with additional needs, through setting up clinics in partnership with local churches. Their clinics provide multidisciplinary therapy services. Each of their clinics currently offer occupational therapy and in 2023, they provided free occupational therapy to 107 children across their clinics. Their therapy services are provided by registered healthcare professionals who have experience working with children and young people. Growing Hope’s vision is to set up 20 free therapy clinics across the UK by 2030.
Expert Witness
Winner - Emma Way Associates
Emma Linley is an exceptional occupational therapist with over 20 years’ experience in spinal cord injury (SCI). Emma has specialised as an expert witness in SCI since 2000. An expert witness is bound by the court to provide a justified cost report for the rehabilitation needs of the client during their lifetime. Report must be accurate, impartial, compelling, and evidence-based for use in the litigation process, and ultimately court, to substantiate the client’s future needs. Emma’s knowledge of technological advances inn rehabilitation are included in her reports and include innovative new equipment from wheelchairs to smart controlled devices.
Excellence in Equipment Innovation
Winner – Dignity Access
The WashPod range of temporary, accessible wetrooms in its current modular form was designed and launched in 2020. There are now eight models in different sizes, both internal and external, to suit most needs and spaces, available nationally. They range from the smallest Micro for the more ambulant where space is at a premium, to the Large which can take two carers, hoists and trollies. WashPods can be rented or bought and installed in as little as half a day. They are a plug ‘n’ play which means they require no major adaptations. There is nothing else like them.
Excellence in Technology
Winner – Social-Ability
The Happiness Programme is a unique service that uses interactive light technology to provide meaningful activities for people who live in, or visit, a range of different care and community settings, including care homes, hospitals and libraries. The programme is designed to improve the lives of people living with cognitive and physical challenges, helping to achieve significant wellbeing outcomes for those individuals. Their aim is to improve the lives of people who use their technology. Social-Ability pride themselves on their passion for changing lives.
Award of Merit – Cognishine
Cognishine serves as transformative assistive technology, aiding individuals with cognitive impairments even when they are away from the clinic. Cognishine redefines assistive tech standards, improving lives by providing cutting-edge solutions.
Effectiveness in Online Resources
Winner – Carly Budd Developmental Play Academy
Carly’s strategy is to spread good information and tools to support tummy time far and wide with those working directly with families, including those with additional needs. As of January 2024, Carly has 380 practitioners across the globe, bringing this information to their nurseries, childminding settings, parent and baby groups, therapy services, charity project workers, and even infant swimming sessions.
Effectiveness in Recruitment, Training or Motivation
Winner – Enabled Living Healthcare
Using a unique combination of values based recruitment (VBR) and co-production (designing services with the people who draw on them), Enabled Living is bucking national OT recruitment trends and establishing best practice. Their retention rate is 98% and their team is growing rapidly. Their sector-leading recruitment process is supported by robust values based induction, appraisal and CPD. VBR has enhanced their team and their service delivery. People feel valued and heard there, and this includes those in their recruitment process. Enabled Living Healthcare want to be the employer that OTs would design for themselves.
Best Start-Up
Winner – Cognishine
Cognishing, a dynamic start-up, leads healthcare innovation by digitising the standard of care in cognitive-language therapy. They are rapidly transitioning from generic analogue tools to a comprehensive digital platform, offering tailored activities and tools that evolve weekly. Their commitment to enhancing therapy practices is evident through their extensive collection of OT activities. As they progress through their start-up journey, their dedication to empowering OTs, and improving client engagement and outcomes, remains unwavering. With a focus on fast-paced innovation and comprehensive support, Cognishine is reshaping healthcare delivery, striving to provide cutting-edge solutions to address critical therapy needs efficiently and effectively.
Award of Merit – Parent Health Hub
The Parent Health Hub offers occupational therapy-based online courses and one-to-one consultations for parents, targeting and supporting them in the challenging areas that they might face in the home and in the workplace. Their courses are available to individual parents or for organisations to invest in, helping to support their staff’s wellbeing and employee retention. The Parent Health Hub prioritises parents’ health. Children develop and thrive best when their parents are at their optimum wellbeing, however being a parent can come with challenges. By letting Parent Health Hub support mental health and wellbeing, parents are better equipped to prioritise everything else that is important in their lives.
Bright New Star
Winner – Carly Budd Developmental Play Academy
Carly’s aim is to provide robust, evidence-based knowledge and practical tools and techniques to parents about the importance of tummy time for babies from birth. She does this by sharing this vital but often misunderstood position that Carly has reframed as a position for play in health, parent and baby, and early years sectors, that supports the development of physical sensory, cognitive, emotional/social skills, and mental health, by providing training for professionals working with families and infants.
Award of Merit - Cognishine
Cognishine emerges as a promising new star in healthcare innovation, pioneering novel technologies to revolutionise therapy and rehabilitation. With their cutting-edge platform, they introduce innovative solutions tailored for cognitive-language therapy and vocational rehabilitation. Continuously digitising the standard of care, they provide therapists with a dynamic toolkit, enhancing patient engagement and experiences. From the speech and language studio, to personalised and cultural-specific activities, Cognishine prioritises innovation to meet evolving needs.