Must have been a good Occupational Therapists' seminar by the look of the smiles on OT stewards from around the UK at a recent UNISON National OT Stewards' Seminar.

Twelve Scottish stewards, including three from local government attended which was a record! Of course Agenda for Change dominated but there were also Local Government workshops.

A session by Dean Royles from Personnel at the Department of Health presented interesting research showing that happy staff means better patient outcomes and decreased mortality. And significantly, bad appraisal systems are worse than no appraisal at all.

• Therapy Weekly: Edinburgh's Kirsten Hey (pictured fourth from the right) tells us she has been asked to write a monthly column for Therapy Weekly, addressing issues facing OTs in Scotland, particularly within Local Authorities. "If any OT in Scotland has anything they would like me to look at, I can be contacted on kirsten.hey@edinburgh.gov.uk or 07771 881615. I will anonymise information if required", said Kirsten.

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