Lucie Ward and Wajeeha Fatima are Senior Occupational Therapists at Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust.
We are both passionate about improving the wellbeing and lives of older people and promoting the essential role of occupational therapy within the multidisciplinary team.
We first became aware of the BGS through our work supporting older adults in the acute hospital setting, as well as through our multidisciplinary team (MDT) and other colleagues.
Much of our clinical practice centres on enabling older people to maintain independence, function, and quality of life, often in the context of frailty, multimorbidity and complex health needs. Working closely alongside geriatricians, nurses, therapists and other professionals has reinforced the importance of a truly multidisciplinary approach to care. Through this experience, we increasingly recognised BGS as a key organisation championing high-quality, evidence-based care for older people across the UK. Joining the BGS felt like a natural step in our professional development and an opportunity to engage with a wider community committed to advancing geriatric medicine and care, as well as accessing the training resources available.
We were inspired to submit a poster while working on a project focused on raising awareness and understanding of occupational therapy within the acute setting. As occupational therapists, we are keen to advocate for our profession and highlight the unique perspective we bring to supporting older people to remain independent and engaged in meaningful activity. Submitting a poster felt like a valuable opportunity to share our work and showcase the impact of occupational therapy within services for older people.
The preparation process was both challenging and rewarding. One of the main difficulties was managing time constraints alongside a busy clinical workload. Finding time to meet, review content, and refine our ideas required careful planning. Deciding on the overall format and creating a poster that was both visually engaging and clearly communicated key messages proved to be the most challenging aspect.
We sought advice from a colleague with previous poster experience and made use of guidance available through BGS, which helped us refine the structure, focus, and presentation of our work. The submission process itself was straightforward, and the BGS submissions team were extremely supportive throughout.
Receiving confirmation that our poster had been accepted was hugely encouraging and validated the time and effort invested.
Attending our first BGS Autumn Meeting in 2025 was a highly exciting, positive and motivating experience. Highlights included inspiring keynote presentations, hearing about the latest research and opportunities to attend sessions that were directly relevant to clinical practice. We also valued meeting a wide range of allied health professionals and other colleagues from across the country.
From the outset, we were made to feel incredibly welcome and valued as members of the BGS community. Presenting our poster and discussing it with delegates led to meaningful multidisciplinary conversations and valuable feedback that we have since reflected on in our practice. Networking with other therapists, trainees, and senior clinicians was particularly beneficial and genuinely heart-warming.
Overall, this experience reinforced the importance of occupational therapy within geriatric medicine and significantly increased our confidence in sharing practice-based work.
We left the conference feeling inspired, motivated and proud to be part of the BGS community, with a renewed commitment to contributing to high-quality care for older people.
We will certainly be back in the future and look forward to participating in the exciting work still to come from BGS.
We would encourage colleagues across health and social care to submit and showcase the high-quality work being undertaken. If we can do this, others can too.