12-Week Embedded Occupational Therapy Programme within a Care Package Review Team (£20,000 per week average savings)
Context
A local authority adult social care locality review team was managing a high-cost caseload, including multiple 24-hour packages and a significant number of double-handed care arrangements.
Over a focused 12-week programme, Versatile’s lead therapist (then working within social services) was embedded as an Occupational Therapist within a Social Worker-led review team, bringing specialist functional analysis into the review process to support safe, sustainable and proportionate care planning.
Approach
Embedding occupational therapy within the team improved pace and strengthened decision-making. Occupational therapy assessment, moving and handling risk management, and practical problem-solving complemented social work review activity—creating a more rounded understanding of need.
Reviews focused on real-world drivers of care, including mobility, transfers, toileting, personal care and environmental barriers. Recommendations were clinically grounded and immediately actionable. Where appropriate, packages were optimised through safer manual handling techniques, equipment solutions and functional enablement, rather than increasing care hours by default.
Impact
Across 12 weeks, the programme delivered average savings of £20,000 per week, while maintaining safety and safeguarding standards. This included:
⦁ Reducing double-handed packages to single-handed care where clinically appropriate
⦁ Reviewing and optimising 24-hour and other high-cost packages using clearer functional evidence
⦁ Identifying cases requiring NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) consideration, supporting timely pathway escalation where appropriate
Collaboration and legacy
The integrated model was well received by the team. Social workers reported the added value of occupational therapy clinical reasoning, and the joint working supported stronger shared decision-making and a clearer rationale for change.
In the period that followed, the adult service within the borough moved toward a more collaborative, integrated model, with social workers and occupational therapists working within the same teams. A senior role was also created with a focus on Continuing Healthcare identification and pathway oversight, strengthening the service’s ability to recognise and escalate appropriate cases for CHC consideration.
Related services
Care Package Review & Optimisation → For reviewing high-cost or complex care packages and identifying safer, more proportionate support.
Consultancy Services → For organisations needing specialist occupational therapy input, service review or complex-case support.
Moving & Handling Assessments → For complex transfers, double-handed care reviews, equipment decisions and manual handling risk.
