Prof Niro Siriwardena presented a keynote lecture and joint workshop with a leading European community occupational therapist, Marije Bolt, to begin the ‘International seminar fur students: occupational therapy, primary care and interdisciplinary work’ at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam on 20 November 2014. Both are members of the advisory board of the European Forum for Primary Care. The workshop entitled: ‘Preparing for future challenges for occupational and physio-therapies in multidisciplinary primary care’ was given at invitation from Soemitro Poerbodipoero, International Coordinator at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and students at the institution.
Prof Siriwardena’s keynote lecture outlined the future challenges for primary and community care in Europe. This included analysis of the shift from secondary to primary care in most European countries, and the critical importance of interdisciplinary working involving primary care, community nursing and allied health professions for high quality community care for people with multiple long term health and social care conditions. The talk covered the need for integrated care to address the ever changing and complex health and social care system. Finally, he spoke about the importance of quality improvement tools and techniques for maintaining and improving the healthcare system.
Marije Bolt entered the auditorium in dramatic fashion on a bicycle, which is how she travels around Amsterdam to visit her clients. She went on to discuss ‘primary care in action’ discussing the international perspective, focusing on challenges for primary and community care, and reflecting on examples where care coordination could be improved. Both speakers facilitated students to apply this to a discussion of a case study.