The Essence of OT

Kate Beauchamp shares her OT journey as part of the Macmillan therapy team at Churchill Hospital in Oxford working with patients living with cancer

Ihave been an OT within the Macmillan therapy team for nearly four years since the service started, and (now) I love my role! We are a small team of therapists, comprising one full time equivalent band 6 OT and one full time band 7 lead physiotherapist. We are based within the therapies department at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, a regional cancer centre.

Our team was initially funded for two years by the cancer charity Macmillan as part of a scoping project to consider the unmet needs of patient’s passing through cancer services within the acute sector. Initially, we only accepted referrals from patients with a diagnosis of a primary brain tumour or metastatic prostate cancer. This was purely due to stakeholder buy-in from these teams. During this period, we received guidance from our Macmillan partnership manager and completed periodic service reviews. A steering group was also formed comprising stakeholders from the Oncology and Haematology directorate and wider Oxford Universities Hospitals NHS Trust to help guide the service and to obtain on-going NHS trust funding.

Following a period of negotiations and presentation of relevant data, our service was successful in achieving this funding and we are now employed by the NHS, whilst keeping our identity as Macmillan professionals, meaning we still represent and have on-going support from the charity. Although my colleagues and I had experience working in acute oncology and haematology, and a passion for working in this area, finding our feet at the beginning was a real challenge. From feeling confident and competent in acute ward work, we found ourselves with a new freedom to mould the service to best suit our patient’s needs, which could be uncomfortable and disconcerting at times.

There was certainly lots of discussion about where we should be directing our input and reassuring each other that we were going in the right direction. The team is now fully up and running with clear goals and objectives, and receives regular referrals for patients with any type of cancer, based on identified needs rather than diagnosis. We work flexibly to best meet our patient’s needs, seeing them either as in-patients, out-patients or in their own homes, and base ourselves either onsite in the hospital or working from home accordingly. We can offer specialist OT or physiotherapy to our patient’s at any stage, from diagnosis to recovery, or planning for end of life care. We pride ourselves on being able to offer a personalised service that recognises how a person’s priorities and needs can change over time and adapt our input accordingly. We were also able to adapt our practice during the pandemic to meet our patient’s needs in a more creative manner, using video calls, or simply meeting outside. As an OT, having the opportunity to work in such a flexible way is incredible. I have been able to help people achieve their goals of returning to work, getting back to gardening, going shopping for a specific outfit, or managing to have a shower - whatever it is that they would like to do. I feel like this role allows me to hone in on my core OT skills in a way that is perhaps less restrictive than in my previous roles. I appreciate that I am lucky to be able to spend time with my patient’s, really getting to know them and helping recognise and realise their priorities, often revisiting what is important to them away from the medicalised world that they are often immersed in during their cancer journey. I feel very privileged to be in such a position and love that I can practice in such a holistic way to really promote the essence of OT.