1. Home
  2. Latest news
  3. New publications for occupational therapists in neonatal services

New publications for occupational therapists in neonatal services

By: RCOT 06 September, 2023 News 3 minute read

New publications for occupational therapists in neonatal services

Do you work in neonatal care? Use our updated staffing recommendations and professional development framework to increase and develop your services.

To ensure commissioners know what’s needed and managers can advocate this, we’ve updated the Occupational Therapy staffing on neonatal units. Additionally, to help OTs who work, or are interested in working in neonatal care development, we’ve recently published the Professional development framework for OTs working in neonatal care.

Are you an OT in a neonatal service or are you interested in becoming one?

We want to make sure all OTs working in neonatal care continually improve their skills and expertise, so they can progress and provide safe, up-to-date and effective care.

Use our Professional development framework for OTs working in neonatal care to guide you through your journey. Our aim with this document is to:

  • ensure a common language and consistency across the levels of practice for OT in neonatal care
  • define the scope of practice for OTs in neonatal care
  • describe progression between levels of practice
  • provide a framework for OTs to benchmark their knowledge and skills.

We’ve also included a self-assessment tool to help OTs review their knowledge and skills and plan their professional development goals.

Do you need more OTs within your neonatal service?

Use Occupational Therapy staffing on neonatal units to advocate for more capacity. This document provides up-to-date staffing recommendations for OTs working in neonatal care. We’ve revised these in line with the second edition of the RCOT practice guidelines on Occupational therapy in neonatal services and early intervention and the Neonatal Critical Care Review recommendations for appropriate allied health professional (AHP) staffing levels.