Ireland National OT News Archive

News from Ireland, 2016

Greetings from the Association of Occupational Therapists of Ireland (AOTI)

2016 has certainly been a busy and exciting year for us all at AOTI. For the first time, we have surpassed 1,000 members! We hope to see this number grow even further in the coming years and have lots to offer our members in terms of CPD, networking, research, clinical training and educational opportunities. If any of our European colleagues wish to join our organisation you can do so as an overseas member at a greatly reduced rate. The benefits of membership to AOTI are summarised in the following link: https://www.aoti.ie/page.aspx?contentid=55 

AOTI continues to recognise the importance of ensuring evidence-informed best practice, effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of Occupational Therapy services in Ireland. The Association has developed a Research Strategy to ensure a clear direction for occupational therapy research in Ireland. This strategy fits national, cross-sectoral contexts, that represents the voice of the occupational therapy research agenda for Ireland 2014-2019. It is available at https://www.aoti.ie/attachments/8a23f621-5556-4e9f-b546-3198d0234c34.PDF.

In order to further support our research vision, the Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy (IJOT) will become an Open Access Online Journal in 2017. This is an exciting development for the organisation and an important milestone in increasing our research visibility. We invite people from all over Europe to submit occupational therapy research to this journal for peer review. For further information please go to https://www.aoti.ie/publications-page.aspx?contentid=400

In early 2017 all occupational therapists working in Ireland will be registered with CORU, our newly established national registration body. This is an important step in regulating our profession and ensuring professional standards. AOTI welcomes this progress and has ensured to work closely with CORU to support our members.

The first ever COTEC-ENOTHE conference took place on our shores in 2016 and it was great to meet so many colleagues and friends from all over Europe at this event. We are currently organising the Association’s national conference for next year. This conference will take place in the Radisson Hotel in Limerick on the 21st and 22nd of April 2017. This promises to be an interesting conference with lots of practical presentations focused on clinical practice initiatives. The theme of this year’s conference is “Looking Back, Moving Forward”. ‘A tree stands strong not by its fruits or branches but by the depth of its roots’, (Anthony Liccione). We extend a warm invitation to all COTEC members.


News from Ireland,November 2015.

March 2015 saw a new Council elected at the AOTI Annual General Meeting. Our new chairperson is Ms. Pauline Burke and the new Vice Chair is Ms Mary O’Kelly. Both can be contacted at info@aoti.ie.

Eleven of the twelve Council positions were filled and currently AOTI Council have invited members to consider co-option onto Council for the remainder of the year.

We continue to have four Directors of AOTI which are required as AOTI is a limited company.

Council have a number of Committee’s and Advisory Groups that all carry out various responsibilities and roles on behalf of the Association. They are too numerous to mention but can be viewed on the AOTI website – www.aoti.ie.

On March 31st 2015, CORU the regulatory body for Health and Social Care Professions in Ireland, opened its registration for OT’s. Current practising OT’s in Ireland have a two year period in which to register, up to March 31st 2017, and then it will be mandatory to be registered in order to practice.

For therapists with qualifications from outside of Ireland, as and from March 31st 2015, therapists have to apply to CORU directly in order to have their qualification recognised to allow them to practice here. Contact details for CORU are www.coru.ie.

We are looking forward to the 1st COTEC/ENOTHE Congress in Galway in June 2016!

News from Ireland, August 2011

New AOTI Council
AOTI have recently appointed its new Council with a new Chairperson, Mr. Odhrán Allen and Vice Chairperson, Ms. Phil Dunne. They can be contacted at info@aoti.ie

Continuing Professional Development
AOTI have a number of OT specific and interprofessional CPD workshops planned for the coming year. These include:
– a two day interdisciplinary workshop on Basic Research Skills
– a multi day course on Practice Based Research for OTs
– specialised lymphoedema training for OTs and Physiotherapists
– interdisciplinary workshops in Pain management
– a workshop for OT and Speech and Language Therapy managers in Leadership Supervision
– a Team Working in Early Intervention workshop for managers
– a phased complex seating workshop available to OTs and Physiotherapists.

Planning for these workshops is currently underway and more details regarding registration will become available on www.aoti.ie

The CPD committee of AOTI has been very active in reviewing and adapting the current CPD system used in the Association. We have been working to develop a more concrete system for recording CPD and developing procedures regarding audit of CPD engagement.

Professional Supervision
Our National Occupational Therapy Manager’s Advisory Group has developed a document on Professional Supervision for Occupational Therapists. This has been converted to an e-learning module and is now available on www.hseland.ie under the Learning Programmes section.

Restrictive Practices and People with Intellectual Disabilities
The Intellectual Disabilities Advisory Group for AOTI have recently published a set of best practice guidelines for Occupational Therapists regarding Restrictive Practices and People with Intellectual Disabilities. This can be sourced on our website www.aoti.ie