I have over 30 years’ experience as an Occupational Therapist, working within the NHS and the private sector.I have worked at Spire Parkway Hospital for over 20 years, setting up and developing the occupational therapy service for all who attend the hospital.I work primarily with inpatients, facilitating a person’s admission and discharge and ensuring their care and support needs are identified and addressed. I also see outpatients; carrying out assessments, deciding on patient centred intervention including advice and information or provision of equipment to enable independence.I work as part of a multidisciplinary team assessing a person before they come into hospital, and ensuring that they are medically fit and prepared for their surgery. I also work on the ward to help patients recover their functional ability post op and work towards their discharge home with the appropriate equipment and support.I have a particular interest in complex discharges and supporting dementia suffering patients and their families. I ensure that both the patient’s and the carer’s care needs and concerns are met and any side effects of the surgery are kept to a minimum. As a consequence of this interest I represent Spire Parkway Hospital at Solihull Dementia Action Alliance meetings, striving to make Solihull a more dementia friendly community.