Occupational therapy

We are part of the Therapies department, working across the Royal and Broadgreen hospital sites, and are organised into specialist teams supported by trained Health Care assistants and clerical staff. We cover a wide range of clinical areas and conditions, working with adults, following injury, illness or disability who have difficulty managing everyday tasks.

Occupational therapists work closely alongside the doctors, nurses, and other therapists involved in your care, to plan your discharge from hospital and assist you to return to everyday life as independently as possible. When patients are discharged home to continue with their recovery, the Occupational Therapist may assess the need for community agencies to support any ongoing treatment and ensure your safe discharge from the hospital setting.

In order to help patients to recover we

• work across the acute hospital and community settings
• liaise with services across health and social care
• support patients to manage their conditions to prevent admission to hospital
• support early discharges from hospital
• provide equipment and adaptations that promote independence and management of conditions
• support patients to remain or return to work

Elective Orthopaedics:

Occupational Therapy can help you to live your life as independently as possible within your own home environment. We help you to find solutions and solve problems you may encounter following a planned operation.

Preadmission Clinic

• We can see you prior to your operation, as an out-patient in a preadmission therapy assessment clinic to establish any problems you may face following your operation.
• Provide you with advice, and necessary equipment you may need at home, to ensure you are safe and independent with your daily activities within your home environment.
• Advise on, and demonstrate techniques you can use at home to ensure your safety and independence is maintained following any postoperative precautions.
• Obtain accurate measurements of your joints and recommend a home exercise programme to complete prior to surgery.

Orthopaedics Ward

• Advise you about other organisations that may be beneficial in assisting you to manage at home following your operation, for example, Social Services, and providers of specialist equipment.
• See you on the ward following your operation, alongside the physiotherapists to provide support and rehabilitation.
• Splints may be provided to relieve pain, give support and reduce swelling in your operated joint.
• Working closely with the physiotherapists, ward nurses, discharge coordinators and the medical team to ensure all your needs and concerns are met prior to discharge home.

You will automatically be referred from the preoperative assessment nurses following your preoperative nurse assessment.

You will be automatically referred to our pre-admission assessment clinic, once you are placed on the consultant waiting list and you have a date for your surgery.

We are available 8.00 am – 4.00 pm Monday to Saturday.

Our contact telephone number is: 0151 282 6260

An answer machine is available out of hours.