ABSTRACT
Only a relatively small number of OTs out of the total employed in the UK healthcare system choose to work with children and families and, as a consequence, historically demand has outweighed supply […] Local occupational therapy services, in line with other specialist therapy provision, responded to these pressures by tightening referral criteria (Crace, 2005). This has narrowed the gateway for children and families, so that only children at the most severe end of the disability spectrum benefi t from OT support. The strategy may have brought waiting lists under more manageable control,
but this has been achieved at the price of applying a reductionist framework to the clinical practice of children’s occupational therapy, ironically at a time when the profession is attempting to redefi ne its contribution to health and well-being and when UK government policy, in line with global trends, is adopting a more radical health promotion agenda (Kronenberg, Algado & Pollard, 2005; Department of Health, 2006).
