The two key elements of the OPAL programme are:
- The delivery of return to work information.
- The support provided by the return to work co-ordinator.
All patients that receive the OPAL programme are assigned a “return to work” co-ordinator prior to surgery. The return to work co-ordinator is a designated member of the orthopaedic team identified at each site. This role will be completed by someone that is involved in the assessment, management or education of hip and knee replacement patients. They could be a nurse, physiotherapist, or occupational therapist.
The return to work co-ordinator will offer support to patients to ensure they have completed the tasks in their patient return to work workbook (or equivalent tasks on the OPAL website) and will discuss and review the plans they have developed. This contact will occur at a minimum of 2 weeks prior to surgery, but ideally 4 weeks.
The return to work co-ordinator should contact patients at least once prior to surgery. They will review completion of the workbooks and encourage patients to share their plans with their employer if they have not done so already.
The return to work co-ordinator may offer additional support to patients based on need. This decision will be made on an individual patient basis having discussed and reviewed the information in the patient return to work workbook (or equivalent tasks on the OPAL website). This may involve review and input from local therapy teams available both in hospital and in the local community and could be arranged either pre-operatively or post-discharge.
The return to work co-ordinator will facilitate a mechanism that allows patients to contact them following their surgery e.g. answerphone line or email. This could prompt further review and referral back in to local therapy services if required. This will be available for patients until the end of the trial.