Issue - items at meetings - Autism - Services for Adults

Report of the Head of Law (Monitoring Officer): update on progress in implementing the scrutiny panel report on Adults with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (copy attached)

67.1         Anne Hagan, Head of Commissioning & Partnerships, and Mark Hendriks, Performance and Development Officer, presented a report on progress that had been made against the recommendations made in the scrutiny panel report looking at services for adults with autism.

The panel had been very helpful in informing the council’s autism strategy, and significant progress had been made, with a three year action plan being put into place. There were 25 strategic objectives in the report, with a stakeholder group governing the action plan’s progress.

The team had just completed the first year, which focussed on improving the diagnostic and care pathway; improvements should be operational in summer 2013.

Work has also been underway to develop an autism champions’ network, with autism leads with specialist knowledge present in various services.

Years two and three would focus on transition and the local planning of services. Transition can take a number of forms, with different pathways for different conditions. The Special Educational Needs process was being revised, which will support services for young people up to the age of 25 rather than 18 which was currently the case.

67.2         Jack Norwood from the Adult ADHD Peer Support Group commented that the group was concerned that ADHD was not explicitly mentioned, would the autism strategy reflect the needs of people with ADHD? West Sussex has an ADHD nurse, would anything similar be happening in Brighton and Hove? The Adult ADHD Peer Support Group would like to be involved in any consultation that was taking place.

Ms Hagan said that it would be helpful if she met with Mr Norwood at a separate date, as there may be some risk of people falling between different services.

The Chair of HWOSC thanked Mr Norwood for his comments, and agreed that it would be helpful for Mr Norwood and Ms Hagan to meet to discuss the issues.

67.3         Members then asked questions about the autism report.

Members asked whether training would be mandatory for all staff?

Mr Hendriks said that it was not felt appropriate to make training compulsory, it was about being proportionate to need. The training offer is there and it is down to individual services to access it.

Ms Hagan added that autistic spectrum conditions were briefly mentioned in the equalities training, which was mandatory.

67.4         Members asked whether it would be possible to have details of the number of people who had had specific training. It would be good to try and test the different in people’s attitudes following training.

67.5         The Chair invited Mr Steve Harmer-Strange, who had chaired the scrutiny panel, to comment. Mr Harmer-Strange welcomed the update and said that Autism Sussex was working with Jobcentre Plus in East Sussex to make staff autism-aware and help support people with autistic spectrum conditions into employment. He felt that it would be good to test whether there had been any improvements in people’s experiences over the next twelve months.

67.6         The Chair said that this was a staged process and recommendations could not be rushed through, as there were many stakeholders involved. He agreed that it would be good for HWOSC to have another update in a year’s time. This was agreed.