Research Article Occupational therapy and allied health use for older people in acute care: A description of services, time, and readmission in an Australian setting Linda Barclay 1 , Aislinn Lalor 1 , Bianca Furmston 1 , Ellie Fossey 1 , Louise Farnworth 1 , Alison Smith 2 , Helen Bourke-Taylor 1 Abstract Introduction: Acute care readmissions of older people are an ongoing concern in many countries. Occupational therapists are well positioned to play a significant role in contributing to improved outcomes and fewer readmissions following discharge from acute hospitals, yet there is a lack of empirical evidence to support this claim. Methods: This study used a retrospective clinical audit of secondary hospital data to investigate and describe the time spent on occupational therapy, and the range of occupational therapy and other allied health services provided to older people admitted to acute care, in one Australian health care service. Results: Occupational therapists conducted numerous assessments and interventions to support patients and to prepare them for safe discharge home. Occupational therapy was significantly associated with length of stay. Readmission was not related directly or significantly to time spent in occupational therapy or any other factor included in this study. However, of the people who received occupational therapy, there was a higher percentage readmitted when they had more services already in place on admission and when they lived alone. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence regarding the contact time and range of occupational therapy assessments and interventions provided to older people in the acute hospital setting. Keywords Older adults, acute health care, occupational therapy services Received: 30 April 2020; accepted: 5 August 2020 Introduction In Australia and similar countries, people are living longer but with more ongoing health conditions, often requiring more hospital admissions (J€ onsson et al., 2017). People with multiple chronic medical conditions (CMCs) have more emergency department visits and longer hospital stays than those without (Leland et al., 2017). Acute care readmissions place additional financial burden on the health system, as well as impacting the patient and their family, and are an ongoing concern in Australia, the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), and similar countries (Roberts and Robinson, 2014). Multiple acute hospital admissions can result in loss of independence, decreased social and community participation, and decreased quality of life for older people (J€ onsson et al., 2017; Leland et al., 2017). Potential contributors to unplanned hospital admission include having unmet functional needs, living alone, lack of self-management skills, or having limited education (Arbaje et al., 2008; DePalma et al., 2012). Due to their scope of practice, occupational thera- pists have an important role in acute care. In particular, occupational therapists’ expertise lies in interviewing patients and in skilled observations of functioning (Robertson and Blaga, 2013), and then intervening to address functional issues during admission to maximise a patient’s occupational performance on discharge (Hoyer et al., 2013). Occupational therapists can play a significant role in implementing risk reduction strategies such as falls prevention, both during hospitalisation and 1 Department of Occupational Therapy, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia 2 Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia Corresponding author: Linda Barclay, Monash University, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, PO Box 527, Frankston, Victoria 3199, Australia. Email: linda.barclay2@monash.edu British Journal of Occupational Therapy 0(0) 1–9 ! The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0308022620956574 journals.sagepub.com/home/bjot