Data from the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia’s Registration Data Tables from September 2012 and December 2014 show a sharp increase in the number of occupational therapists with general registration during this time. There was an increase from 13,397 occupational therapists in Australia with general registration in September 2012 to 16,327 by December 2014.

While other professions such as dentistry and pharmacy now have a competitive jobs market for new graduates following increased numbers of graduates, national body Occupational Therapy Australia are more optimistic about the future of the profession.

Following is a written statement My Health Career received from Occupational Therapy Australia when we asked them for their view:

“Occupational Therapy Australia (OTA) is encouraged by the rise in the number of registered occupational therapists working in Australia over the last couple of years.

Chief Executive Officer OTA Ms Rachel Norris said working as an occupational therapist continues to be a draw card for a lot of people because there are so many exciting and unique opportunities.

“Every day there are more and more opportunities for occupational therapists to pursue their passions in private practice, the community sector and through working with the government.” She said.

“The NDIS is a great example of how occupational therapists are delivering real change in people’s lives by working with the government.” She said.

“There are new private practices starting every day pursuing creative, technology driven services and there are more occupational therapists working in the community and for not for profits than ever before.” Ms Norris said.

Ms Norris said the increase in numbers of registered occupational therapists reflected the excitement and growth in the profession.

For more information about occupational therapy visit otaus.com.au”

Paediatric Occupational Therapist and director of Sydney practice My Child Therapy, Natalie Tanner-Black says that graduate occupational therapists may need to help prospective employers to create a job.

Ms Tanner-Black says:

“In the last 18 months, I’ve had about 12 new graduate Occupational Therapist contact me regarding work opportunities.

Some are so committed to getting work that they have offered to volunteer their time so they can develop their skills. I love that fact that these enthusiastic and proactive young therapists are willing to extend themselves so much that I have offered to mentor and employ two of them.

The catch is, they have to help me create their own job because I currently don’t have enough work for them and me. So we are now working together to devise an Occupational Therapy in Schools program, a comprehensive consultation and education services we’ll deliver to schools.

I get the benefit of their fresh ideas and energy, the volunteer therapists get mentoring from an experienced therapist and a job, and we provide a much needed service to teachers, schools and students.

This is a win-win for everyone!”

Pippa Quinn, a UK occupational therapist with 20 years’ experience who now lives and practices in Australia says that she has been employed in her current role for 3.5 years, and that the team she works in has grown as they are providing community therapy, which is a growing area.

Ms Quinn says:

“I have also set up a private practice in the last 8 months using my Occupational Therapy skills but in a more creative way, as a life coach, having carried out some additional training in Neuro linguistic programming.

I have found that having a background in Occupational Therapy has really helped me develop my life coaching business and this has allowed me to expand my own business with a really strong professional background.”

It has been suggested to My Health Career by a practising occupational therapist that perhaps it is the number of occupational therapists becoming registered as the Grandparenting Standard mode of having OT qualifications recognised comes to an end on 30th June 2015. At the time of publishing this article, we are investigating this with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia.

We also spoke to a representative from the NDIS regarding the rollout of services under the scheme. They said that in Australia there are currently 70,000 people employed in the disability sector, with this including everyone from direct support workers to nurses, allied health professionals and case managers.

The NDIS is estimating that when the NDIS is active nationally, this number will increase to over 165,000. However, at this stage they are unable to indicate the profession by profession break down of the number of staff employed.

The NDIS representative said that so far the scheme is being trialled in 7 sites, and that around August / September 2015 they would be in a better position to make predictions on the number of health professionals including occupational therapists that will be required during the course of the full NDIS rollout.

The Occupational Therapy Council (Australia & New Zealand) were able to confirm that in 2013 and 2014, there were 299 Stage 1 assessments carried out which would lead to either registration or a period of supervised practice leading to general registration. They were unable to confirm the final number of these 299 who became registered OTs.

My Health Career will be on the lookout for information about what the increased numbers of occupational therapists will mean for the profession for future articles. If you have anything you would like to submit, please contact articles@myhealthcareer.com.au.

More recent articles on My Health Career:

• The road from new graduate occupational therapist to employment!
• Is it easy for graduate occupational therapists to get a job in hand therapy?
• Polio Australia: Improving health outcomes for Australia’s polio survivors
• The health industry’s reaction to the 2015 Federal Budget

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