No assessment has been carried out centrally because it is for primary care trusts, in consultation with local stakeholders, to determine how best to use their funds for improving health and to commission occupational therapy services accordingly. However, today gives me the opportunity during national occupational therapy week to thank the profession for its huge contribution to helping improve the health and well-being of service users throughout the country.
Let us deal now with 2008 issues, for which the Government are responsible. Earlier this year, my mother broke her hip while in hospital and I observed at close hand the wonderful work of occupational therapists. However, the Minister knows that, in adult social services, occupational therapists form 2 per cent. of the work force, yet deal with 35 per cent. of referrals. With health and social services becoming integrated, how will the Minister and the Government tackle the increasing number of referrals with such a small work force?
First, may I wish the hon. Gentleman’s mother well? I hope that her treatment proceeds successfully.
I am happy to say that the number of occupational therapists working in the NHS has increased to 17,024—an increase of some 48 per cent. since 1997. There has therefore been a huge increase in the number of NHS occupational therapists. In addition, local authority occupational therapists provide social care and help. The integration of the two services is important, and I would like more of that to happen. We have good examples, such as the Torbay care trust, which is not in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, of local authorities working closely with PCTs to create a single referral pathway for those who wish to use occupational therapists. Self-referral is also popular. Those who self-refer get much benefit from going straight to an occupational therapist and gaining the treatment that they need to give them successful lives and improve their well-being.
An occupational therapist assessment is the first stage in accessing a disabled facilities grant. What is the point in having enough occupational therapists if there is then, as in my constituency, sometimes a two-year wait for people to get a disabled facilities grant? Work was done for one disabled child in my constituency only because the NHS intervened and paid for the adaptations that the council should have funded. Otherwise, he would have waited two years for an essential stairlift. What is the Minister doing to ensure that that is put right?
Order. Other Back Benchers have got to be considered.
I understand my hon. Friend’s concern for her constituents, and she is right to express concern about waiting times that vary from one local authority to another. I hope that local authorities throughout the country, including the one to which she referred, will pay attention to the importance of speedier access when somebody has had a diagnosis and is clearly in need of some form of facility to help them with their condition.