Occupational Therapy

You might have Occupational Therapy as part of your care in:

• Emergency Departments
• Inpatient hospital wards
• Your own home following discharge from hospital, or to prevent the need for you coming into hospital
• One of our bedded intermediate care rehabilitation unit’s
• Pre-Operative Assessment clinics

There are OTs working in many different services across the trust. Occupational Therapy is individualised and therefore will differ depending on your needs and whether you are at home or in hospital.

Our Occupational Therapists may provide:

• A detailed initial assessment to gather information about you, your home and background information.
• support and advise to perform everyday activities
• cognitive and awareness assessments
• home assessments
• rehabilitation programmes
• education and support
• Referrals onto other services and agencies
• equipment prescription and risk assessment

The Occupational Therapist will work closely with other members of the team such as the physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, dieticians, doctors, and nurses.

Most of the OT services cover Monday – Friday 8 – 5pm. However, some of our services now run 7 days.

If you have a relative on a ward and you would like to speak to us, please call the numbers below.
These phones are not manned but there is a message facility. Please leave us a message and we will call you back.

Conquest Hospital

Eastbourne District General Hospital

Inpatients: Referrals to OT will usually be made by the ward staff. If you feel you or your relative would benefit from Occupational Therapy, please discuss with the nursing staff on the ward.

Community Services: Referrals can be made by your GP, adult social care workers, acute hospitals & rehab units, paramedics, community nurses, specialist doctors & nurses at the hospital & some charities.

Occupational Therapy may be appropriate if you have had change in your abilities to manage at home or in the community following a change in your medical condition, injury, or surgery.

Professional Lead: Lynn Leppard

Hospital Intervention Team: The Hospital Intervention Team (HIT) comprising of specialist nurses, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists. HIT receive referrals from the gateway wards (A&E, CDU, AMU, SDEC (same day emergency care) and fracture clinic, for patients deemed medically fit to leave hospital, who require further assessment by the MDT to facilitate a safe and timely discharge as well as identifying the need for onward referrals for short term support at home.

We have teams at:
Conquest Hospital

Eastbourne District General Hospital

Integrate Discharge Team: This service provides assessment and interventions to plan for discharge from the acute setting which may include discharging people home with support or for end-of-life care needs, as well as more complex discharge planning including home environment assessments and complex moving and handling equipment.

We have teams at:
Conquest Hospital

Eastbourne District General Hospital

Orthopaedics: Our orthopaedic Occupational Therapists provide assessment and intervention for individuals with following fractures including ankle, hips, humeral and spinal fractures as well as planned joint assessments including hip, knee, shoulder and ankle replacements which may include the pre- operative assessments via virtual clinics and telephone assessments. The team will also provide Occupational Therapy interventions for individuals with general surgery conditions including, bowel conditions, elective surgery, vascular surgery (including amputees) and palliative conditions. Intervention may include prescribing equipment, home environmental assessments, and support prior to admission to hospital as well as providing intervention post operatively on the ward and completing onward referrals into other healthcare settings.

Orthopaedics Conquest Hospital

Orthopaedics Eastbourne District General Hospital

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI): Our specialist OT works with individuals who have an acquired brain injury (ABI) in the acute hospital setting (EDGH and Conquest) and completes cognitive and functional assessments to understand the patients challenges and strengths following brain injury. Following the assessment process, the Occupational Therapist will provide targeted interventions to help the patient achieve their activities of daily living (ADLs) whilst working alongside the ward multidisciplinary teams, The After Trauma Team, IDT Occupational Therapists and the Community Neurological Rehabilitation team to facilitate the hospital discharge process to specialist rehabilitation units or returning home.

ABI OT

Acute Stroke: Within acute stroke the Occupational Therapists provide specialist assessment and intervention for people who have suffered a stroke and are admitted to the acute hospital. This includes assessment and treatment of a wide range of physical, cognitive, visual, and perceptual difficulties as well recommendations for rehab or complex discharge planning.

Acute Stroke Eastbourne District General Hospital

Professional Lead: Lynn Leppard

Joint Community Rehab (JCR): Is an integrated service (ASC and Health) within JCR Occupational Therapists provide rehabilitation through exercise and activities that are meaningful to the individual. This aims to promote greater independence and quality of life for the person living in the community. They work with individuals with varying medical and surgical conditions and disabilities in their own home, to enable them to reach their personal goals within a time limited service. JCR provides a seven-day service, responding to client’s needs in a timely manner.

The falls prevention service is integrated into JCR, providing multifactorial falls assessments, exercise programmes and groups.

We have three teams within the JCR service:

JCR Hastings and Rother

JCR Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford

JCR High Weald, Lewes and High Havens

Community Stroke Rehabilitation: Occupational Therapists work as part of an interdisciplinary team including Physiotherapist, Speech & language Therapist, Stroke Nurses, Dietitians & Support Workers. They work in a person-centred way, towards occupational goals, identify by their clients.  Occupational Therapists work with stroke survivors to support their recovery & return to independence, as well as limiting the impact of their disability, so they can participation in valued activities. Together with the other team members they also support client’s family & friends. The team may prescribe equipment, carry out functional, perceptual, and cognitive assessment as well as supporting clients with their emotional wellbeing following a life changing stroke or Brain Injury.

The team operate an interdisciplinary service on a 7 day a week basis ensuring comprehensive care for the stroke patient within the community.

Bexhill

Eastbourne

Crisis response: Working collaboratively with nursing colleagues and Integrated Community Service (ICS) Crisis response provide urgent Occupational Therapy assessment in the community to prevent unnecessary hospital admission and accelerate hospital discharge.

Conquest Hospital

Eastbourne District General Hospital

Intermediate Care Rehabilitation: Our rehabilitation units specialise in short stay, multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation, and nursing care for people with a range of conditions including:

• Complex neurology
• Orthopaedic
• Amputee
• Stroke
• Frailty

The Occupational therapy team sits within a supportive and dynamic multidisciplinary team enabling OTs to work closely with Physiotherapists, Dietician’s, Speech and Language Therapists, Nursing, Pharmacy, adult social care, and doctors.  The team are supported by rehabilitation support workers, therapy assistants and activity coordinators who support a holistic approach to rehabilitation. The team has strong links with our acute and community colleagues including joint community rehabilitation team and the community stoke rehabilitation team.

The Occupational Therapist’s intervention may include assessment and rehabilitation, moving and handling, equipment prescription, environmental considerations, and risk assessment as well as standardised and non-standardised assessments.  Rehabilitation covers a full range of activities of daily living, group work, upper limb, and cognitive rehab.  Our aim is to work closely with patients and their families to agree and set personal goals and monitor progress to support patients to regain as much independence as possible to return safely to their discharge destination.

We have OTs based at Bexhill Hospital and Rye, Winchelsea, and District Memorial Hospital

Bexhill Irvine rehabilitation unit

Rye Memorial rehabilitation unit

Post Covid Assessment and Support Service (PCASS): The PCASS team consists of Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Nurses, Care Co-ordinators, and Rehab Support Workers who aim to provide a holistic virtual assessment, first line advice, education on self-management strategies, fatigue management and return to work. The team are also able to access to appropriate resources and complete referrals to specialist services as required. They aim to promote a personalised care approach ensuring shared decision making at every stage of the pathway.

There are also OTs within other roles within the trust such as specialist equipment, development lead, MND coordinator, discharge coordinator and dementia care.

Services we link with:

• Stroke https://www.esht.nhs.uk/service/stroke/
• Rehab https://www.esht.nhs.uk/service/rehabilitation/
• After trauma team https://www.esht.nhs.uk/service/rehabilitation/after-trauma-team/
• Dementia Care https://www.esht.nhs.uk/service/dementia-care/
• Orthopaedics https://www.esht.nhs.uk/service/trauma-and-orthopaedics/
• Bexhill Irvine Unit https://www.esht.nhs.uk/hospitals-and-community/bexhill-hospital/irvine-unit/
• Rye, Winchelsea and District Memorial https://www.esht.nhs.uk/hospitals-and-community/rye-winchelsea-and-district-memorial-hospital/