For this reason, the Gauteng Department of Health hosted a rehabilitation research conference from 27 to 28 February with the theme “Rehabilitation for All: A Call for Action in Gauteng” – a theme which aligns perfectly with our value of universal hand-injury care!

The conference was a wonderful opportunity to hear about what health care professionals from various disciplines, including speech therapy, audiology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and podiatry, are doing to make a difference in the lives of their patients. Many inspiring and creative ways of solving problems such as low resources, staff shortages and high patient loads were presented and discussed.

Nicola represented Open Hand, presenting the results of our research into our 2024 webinar series. She highlighted the challenges generalist therapists face working in what is widely considered to be a specialized field, and showed how effective webinars are in equipping these therapists. She encouraged other disciplines to consider using this model to improve the skills of their members in areas where advanced knowledge is required, or where on-the-job training is unavailable.