Seating manufacturer teams with OT to deliver CPD seminar

Occupational therapists attending this year's OT Show in Birmingham can gain vital continued professional development (CPD) points, and learn first-hand how occupational performance can be integrated into seating assessments, in a talk delivered by Repose Furniture.

The specialist seating manufacturer has teamed up with industry renowned Occupational Therapist, Kate Sheehan, who recently joined Repose as the company's in-house healthcare advisor, to deliver a talk on the importance of seating in terms of occupational performance.

The 30-minute CPD credited talk will explore what the key considerations are when choosing a chair to suit an individual, drawing on Kate's own experiences as a specialist OT. Commenting on her upcoming talk, Kate said: "Seating should not be just about how someone sits in a chair, but what a client wants to do when seated. This session will look at how seating can impact on a client's physical, functional and occupational needs. It will also explore the importance of having OT assessments, which are client goal-centred, whilst still addressing a client's essential postural and pressure needs.”

Alongside Kate's talk, Repose will also be carrying out a short survey to uncover what specialist manufacturers can do to better meet the needs of the healthcare professionals and their clients. It follows on from the company's 2014 survey which revealed three quarters of OTs felt greater collaboration was needed.

As a direct result of the company's 2014 survey at the OT Show, Repose appointed Kate Sheehan as its expert healthcare advisor, a role which is enabling Kate and Repose to create a number of specialist healthcare resources for OTs, as well as collaborate on a number of projects to further drive knowledge transfer between OTs and manufacturers.

Lisa Wardley, Managing Director explained why it is important for specialist manufacturers to drive collaboration with healthcare professionals. She said: "As a business it is important that we continually listen, both to our customers and healthcare professionals, including OTs. By working together with OTs we are able to continually deliver seating solutions that meet the functional and lifestyle needs of our customers.

"At this year's OT show, we will be speaking to different people in the industry to further look below the surface to see what really matters to OTs and their clients, giving them the opportunity to voice their opinions on the role of specialist manufacturers and ways in which collaboration can be further aided.”

The OT Show is the UK's largest dedicated event for OTs and takes place on the 25- 26th November at the NEC Birmingham. Repose Furniture can be found at stand H70.