Jobs in Occupational Therapy are still available, despite reforms

It is less certain than ever what effect the government’s shake-up of the NHS will have on various parts of the health service. To begin with, it appeared that the coalition would be doing away with the Primary Care Trusts, or PCTs, and putting doctors’ surgeries in control of their own budgets. The thinking was that this would allow them to order their own services. Under the umbrella-policy of Big Society, the reason for this is that localism and decentralisation is felt to be an inherently good thing. GPs know their patients’ needs – which will change from area to area – far better than top-down, centralised management. However, at the same time, the government stressed the need for savings. Front-line services would be protected, it promised, and the NHS budget would definitely not be cut, but efficiencies were required. What this meant for allied health jobs – such as jobs in radiography, speech therapies, counselling, jobs in occupational therapy and the like – wasn’t clear.

Now, whatever clarity there was has gone with the ‘listening process’ that has led to revolt among both politicians and health professionals, and far-reaching changes to the slated reforms. This essentially means that the Sword of Damocles has not yet fallen, and the date of its falling may have been postponed for a few weeks or months – in other words, the only certainty at this point is uncertainty. This is infuriating for people in those positions, since they are prevented from planning their futures. It’s not certain what the situation will be for them, either in the jobs they currently have or the career landscape that will exist at some point over the next year or two, when the reforms (whatever shape they take) are brought into being.

Those in allied health jobs would be forgiven for looking around for an escape route, and it’s well worth knowing what’s out there. Check out one of the specialist job sites that deals with this niche, and hunt out those jobs in radiography or jobs in occupational health that you might need as a safety net. Also bear in mind that different areas might deal differently with different services. For example, in some areas counselling is delivered directly by the Primary Care Trust. In others, it is arranged by the individual GP surgeries. Knowing which is which could be handy if you think you might need to find a new job at short notice.