Category: Autism

Learning from lives and deaths

People with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) policy 2021

This policy aims to set out for the first time for the NHS the core aims and values of the LeDeR programme and the expectations placed on different parts of the health and social care system in delivering the programme from June 2021.

Also available in easy read format.

Learning Disabilities and Autism

Framework for commissioner oversight visits to inpatients

Source: The King’s Fund – Health Management and Policy Alert

The NHS long-term plan made a commitment to making sure that people with a learning disability and/or people with autism are safe and are getting high-quality inpatient care. The guidance (accessible below) for commissioners and case managers aims to support the implementation of best practice in relation to commissioner oversight visits. This includes the minimum expectations for visits during the coronavirus pandemic.

Framework-for-commissioner-oversight-visits-to-inpatientsDownload

For more information click here.

Out of sight – who cares?

A review of restraint, seclusion and segregation for autistic people, and people with a learning disability and/or mental health condition

Source – Kings Fund Health Management and Policy Alert

This report tells the story of restrictive practices from the perspective of people who have experienced it first-hand and looks at how long-term segregation was used. The review finds that the environment of mental health hospitals was often not therapeutic. It also finds that some people were admitted without proper assessment and did not have an assessment of their needs while in hospital, resulting in the lack of a clear care and treatment plan.

The Autism Act, 10 years on: a report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism on understanding, services and support for autistic people and their families in England

All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism, September 2019

 This report on an inquiry by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) and the National Autistic Society looks at the results of a survey of around 11,000 autistic adults and their families in England and evidence sessions in Parliament.  The report finds that not enough has been done locally and nationally to make sure that the Autism Act makes a difference to all autistic people in the country.  The report calls on the government to introduce specialist autism support in every council in England, invest in social care services and secure long term sustainable funding.

Click here to view the full report.

Far less than they deserve: children with learning disabilities or autism living in mental health hospitals

Children’s Commissioner, May 2019
This report finds that too many children are being admitted to secure hospitals unnecessarily – in some cases are spending months and years of their childhood in institutions rather than being treated in their communities. It warns that the current system of support for those with learning disabilities or autism is letting down some of the most vulnerable children in the country.
Click here to view the full report.