AOTI Housing Advisory Group
Summary of work 2017
Committee Membership / Due to a small committee, the HAG committee members have had to double up on their roles.
Ciara Doyle stepped down as chair in December 2017, and will continue as a committee member until her maternity leave.
Orla Deighan and Sinead Duffy have stated their intention to step down later this year, upon completion of the guidelines.
The HAG has requested expressions of interest from the wider HAG membership, to which we have had a number of responses. We hope this will allow our existing members to hand over some of their dual roles, and operate as a fully staffed committee for 2018.
  • Chair: Linda Horgan
  • Vice chair: Orla Deighan (Acting)
  • Treasurer:Orla Deighan and Ciara Doyle
  • Secretary: Sinead Duffy
  • Communications:Orla Deighan
  • CPD:Linda Horgan/Anrece O’ Connor
  • Education/research:
Eight conference calls were held in 2018.
Housing Guidelines / The 2nd Edition of the Housing Design Guidelines for Occupational Therapists’ was submitted to the AOTI Governance Committee in December 2017, and is currently under review. Work has commenced on design of the document, and it will be launched later this year in both a paper copy, and an online version. The work involved in creating the 2nd Edition of the Housing Design Guidelines has been extensive. It has been the commitment, both in time and intensive work, of committee members and contributors that has made this possible. Being aware that Occupational Therapists have been waiting for access to the guidelines, we made this project a priority in 2017. As a result this work has consumed the bulk of resources from the HAG committee.
Housing Course / The Housing Course was run on one occasion in May 2016. Based on feedback of participants, two levels of learning need have emerged. Many therapists’ are seeking an ‘entry level’ educational course on housing adaptations; many others (with more experience) continue to seek the existing content. The HAG committee, together with the course facilitator Anita Singyard and the AOTI CPD are currently reviewing the content and structure of this course. We aim to run this course, with a revised format, in 2018.
Housing Survey / The HAG completed a survey of Occupational Therapists nationally in 2016, which focused on their experiences working in the area of Housing Adaptations. This has been very informative with regard to learning about the experiences of therapists’ nationally. The results have been analysed and circulated to the HAG membership. The HAG will be taking this information into consideration when planning our strategy for 2018.
Links with NI/UK / Our existing chair, Linda Horgan, presented the findings of the Housing Survey at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists’, Specialist Section on Housing Conference in Belfast on November 9th/10th.

AOTI Housing Advisory Group