Agenda item

Healthwatch had recently completed work about Autism in Worcestershire. Feedback had been gathered from people with Autistic Spectrum conditions and their carers, about health services, information, support and diagnoses. 150 Surveys had been completed and 70 people had been spoken to.  Feedback had also been requested from GP practices, the Acute Trust, the Health and Care Trust and the Ambulance Service about the levels of awareness amongst their staff and whether they were making any adjustments within their service to support people with Autism.

The Conclusions from the work were framed around the priorities in the All Age Autism Strategy and looked at what progress had been made and what action was still required.

The main finding was that there needed to be more awareness across all health services of Autistic Spectrum Conditions. Therefore training was needed for staff.

A further finding was that health services needed to make further adjustments for people with Autism. Some services already had a flagging system to mark records that the person may have some additional needs and some departments had Champions for Autism who had attended further training than the majority of staff. Ideally the system of Champions should be expanded and used more formally.

A number of comments were about the lengthy wait for a diagnosis and the fact that it was not clear what would happen next in the process. Once a diagnosis had been made 69% of carers felt that the people they cared for did not receive the support that they needed. There were also concerns about appropriate mental health support, both for people on the autism spectrum and for their carers.

It was hoped that the responses received would be incorporated into the refreshed autism strategy and that the health services would improve training. The Acute trust has said they would work more closely with the Trust to see what training was available. Healthwatch would like refreshed guidance to be made available for GP surgeries.

In future Healthwatch would continue to work with the Autism Strategy Partnership Board. A suggestion was to award services with good practises an 'Autism friendly award'. An update would be requested from the Commissioners and the Trust on how far they had got with the recommendations.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were made:

·       The Healthwatch report was helpful and had come at a useful time to be considered when the Strategy was refreshed. The Council had found that it was useful that the strategy was for all ages,

·       The views of Parents and Carers were very important to be included in the strategy,

·       It was clarified that the survey had not asked about Autism and Education but the survey had been sent to all schools as a way of reaching people on the Autistic spectrum and asking about their experiences with Health Services,

·       It was mentioned that there had been issues with some people accessing CAMHS and whether anxiety or other mental health concerns were seen as part of their autism rather than a separate need. Owen Cave expressed his personal experience that it took 14 months to access mental health services,

·       Mr Cave as Co-Chair of the Autism Strategic Partnership Group asked representatives of the CCG to consider training when commissioning autism services.  He also mentioned that he had sent a letter to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Board regarding concerns about transitions when young people on the autism spectrum leave school It was agreed that Mr Cave would forward a copy to Mr Hart,

·       This report came from Healthwatch and dealt with health services, but it was noted that the Autism Strategy should also have input from other organisations. The police and housing providers were therefore urged to engage with the strategy,

·       Frances Howie confirmed that it was a statutory duty for the County Council to produce the Strategy but the refresh should ensure it included partnership working and at scale training.

RESOLVED that the Health and Well-being Board considered Healthwatch Worcestershire's Autism Spectrum Conditions Report – March 2018 and the recommendations made in relation to the priorities within the Worcestershire All Age Autism Strategy.