The Growth of Private Practice in Occupational Therapy in Great Britain

Abstract

By means of a questionnaire issued to the 65 therapists registered on the COT Private Practice Directory 1989, a study gathered demographic details and information regarding the growth of private practice, diversity of practice and referral sources. It appeared that trends emerging amongst occupational therapists in the private sector might be pre-empting trends in the occupational therapy profession in general. With decreasing resources and the introduction of competitive tendering in the public sector, more therapists might have to re-examine their services in terms of cost-effectiveness. It seemed that colleagues in the private sector had already rationalised their services in order to compete in the marketplace. Those skills that were highly visible, in the physical, domiciliary and litigation areas of work, predominated. The findings have implications for those occupational therapy services presently without proven effectiveness which require urgent research to prevent their further decline.