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Content Article
Core Needs project (neurodivergence)
Craig.russo posted an article in Innovation programmes in health and care
Craig Russo outlines the Core Needs School Pilot, a needs-led, school-based early intervention model for young people with neurodevelopmental needs. He describes how embedding clinicians in schools enables rapid, functional assessment and support without waiting for diagnosis, improving outcomes while significantly reducing costs and demand on specialist services. It demonstrates impact and support expansion, highlighting strong value for money, improved access and alignment with national SEND reform principles. The Core Needs provides a clear, practical example of how a needs‑led model can be operationalised at scale within mainstream education, moving beyond theory into delivery. It demonstrates how embedding clinical expertise directly into schools transforms access, shifting support closer to children and young people and enabling real-time assessment, observation and intervention in their everyday environment. This approach not only improves timeliness but strengthens relationships between health, education and families, creating a more joined-up system that is easier to navigate. A key learning point is the power of intervening early with functional, strengths-based support rather than relying on diagnostic thresholds. The model shows that many young people can be effectively supported through a single, well-structured intervention, supported by a period of watchful waiting and clear step-up pathways when required. This has important implications for demand management, demonstrating a credible route to reducing pressure on specialist services while maintaining safe and appropriate escalation. The pilot also highlights the importance of building capability within schools. By working alongside SENCOs and staff, clinicians are not only supporting individual children but leaving a lasting legacy of increased confidence, skills and consistency within the wider workforce. This creates a multiplier effect, where impact extends beyond the initial intervention and contributes to longer-term system resilience. From an operational perspective, the pilot identifies critical enablers of success, including strong multi-agency partnership working, clear referral processes, dedicated workforce capacity and a structured delivery model. It also makes clear the risks of not investing, particularly around increasing demand, widening inequity of access and continued reliance on costly statutory pathways. For decision-makers, the key action is to consider how this model can be embedded as part of the core local offer, rather than as a time-limited pilot. The evidence presented supports scaling through a phased approach, ensuring quality and consistency are maintained while expanding reach. It also prompts a wider reflection on how services can redesign pathways to prioritise early intervention, improve flow and ensure that resources are directed where they have the greatest impact. Overall, this pilot offers a compelling, evidence-informed case for system change, showing not just what should be done differently, but how it can be delivered in practice in a way that is sustainable, equitable and centred on the needs of children and young people. More blogs on the hub from Craig Russo: Partnership working between A&E, the police and custody healthcare -
News ArticleTaking antidepressants during pregnancy does not increase the risk of children going on to develop autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to an analysis of more than half a million pregnancies. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and published in the Lancet Psychiatry, analysed data from 37 existing studies that included 600,000 pregnant women who had taken antidepressants, and 25 million women who had no antidepressant use during their pregnancies. Before controlling for key factors such as pre-existing mental health conditions, the analysis found that antidepressant use by the mother during pregnancy was associated with a 35% increased risk of ADHD and a 69% increased risk of autism. However, when controlling for confounding factors such as pre-existing mental health conditions, this risk became non-significant. This means the meta-analysis found no significant link between antidepressant use during pregnancy and a greater risk of autism and ADHD in children, after controlling for the mother’s mental health or other influencing factors such as genetics. Dr Wing-Chung Chang, a professor at the University of Hong Kong and lead author of the study, said: “We know many parents-to-be worry about the potential impact of taking medication during pregnancy; our study provides reassuring evidence that commonly used antidepressants do not increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD in children. “While all medications carry risks, so too does stopping antidepressants during pregnancy due to an increased risk of relapse. Therefore, for women with moderate-severe depression, doctors and patients must carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits of continuing antidepressant treatment during pregnancy against the potential harms of untreated depression. “Although our study found a small increase in the risk of autism and ADHD in the children of women who had used antidepressants during pregnancy, it also found that this risk disappeared when we accounted for other factors. The increased risk was also seen in the children of fathers who took antidepressants and of mothers with antidepressant use before, but not during, pregnancy. “Together, this suggests that it is not the antidepressants themselves causing an increased risk in autism and ADHD but it is more likely to be due to other factors, including genetic predisposition to conditions such as ADHD, autism, and mental health conditions.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 May 2026
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EventThe Restraint Reduction Network is pleased to introduce a new set of coproduced resources aimed at delivering rights respecting support for pregnant autistic people. These include an information resource for midwifery and obstetrics professionals and a practical guide for autistic pregnant people. These resources were made possible thanks to funding from the Boshier Grant Scheme. Join us for this webinar introducing the new pregnancy resources, providing the opportunity to hear from the authors, midwives and researchers, exploring rights-respecting prenatal, intrapartum and post natal care. The Restraint Reduction Network is a movement of people who want to eliminate the use of unnecessary restrictive practices, protect human rights and make a positive difference in people's lives. Register
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Content ArticleAutism has long been regarded as a condition that predominantly affects the male sex. More recent research, as well as common self-reported experiences of autistic women, suggest that the true ratio is less skewed and that current practices are failing to recognise autism in many women until later in life, if at all. The harms of underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of autism in women—harms that are infrequently reported in medical research but are often discussed in the autistic community—extend beyond barriers to appropriate interventions, supports, and accommodations afforded to correctly diagnosed autism in women. For example, in a report from the Autistic Women’s and Nonbinary Network, patient Helena described how before her autism diagnosis, her misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder led to a stay for a year and a half on a psychiatric ward. “I think they were misinterpreting everything I did and assigned me motivations I didn’t have . . . Possibly that partly explains why the treatment was quite ineffective and why I stayed so long and they didn’t know what to do with me.” This BMJ editorial discusses the recent research from Fyfe and colleagues that suggests that autism may actually occur at comparable rates among male and female cohorts.
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News Article
Autistic girls much less likely to be diagnosed, study says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Females may be just as likely to be autistic as males but boys are up to four times more likely to be diagnosed in childhood, according to a large-scale study. Research led by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden scrutinised the diagnosis rates of autism for people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2020. Of the 2.7 million people tracked, 2.8% were diagnosed with autism between the ages of two and 37. They found that by the age of 20, diagnosis rates of men and women were almost equal, challenging previous assumptions that autism is more common among males. “Our findings suggest that the gender difference in autism prevalence is much lower than previously thought, due to women and girls being underdiagnosed or diagnosed late,” said the lead author, Dr Caroline Fyfe. The research calculated that in childhood, boys were diagnosed on average nearly three years earlier than girls – the median age at diagnosis was 15.9 for girls, but 13.1 for boys. Overall, boys were three to four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with autism under the age of 10, although girls were found to “catch up” by the time they were 20, owing to a rapid increase in autism diagnosis during adolescence. “These observations highlight the need to investigate why female individuals receive diagnoses later than male individuals,” the authors conclude. Patient and patient advocate Anne Cary, writing in a linked editorial, said the research supported arguments that it was “systemic biases in diagnosis, rather than a true gap in incidence” that were behind the discrepancy in diagnosis rates. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 February 2026 -
News ArticlePresident Donald Trump’s claim that taking paracetamol during pregnancy is linked to autism is not based on robust evidence, a study has found. The claims were made by Trump and health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in September, 2025. They urged women to not take Tylenol, known as paracetamol in the UK, and repeated numerous conspiracy theories about autism. Kennedy, who has previously been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and pushed a discredited theory that routine childhood vaccines were linked to autism, said the department would encourage clinicians to prescribe the lowest effective dose of the pain relief drug. UK scientists hit back at the “fearmongering” claims and health secretary Wes Streeting stressed to not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.” Now a review of the medical evidence published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal, has found there is no strong evidence that paracetamol use during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or any intellectual disability among children. “Autism diagnoses have surged by 787 per cent in the UK since 1998, which naturally raises questions around what’s behind this trend. It’s simply bad science to automatically assume that this is due to autism becoming much more prevalent. It’s even worse to attribute it to a simple cause like taking paracetamol during pregnancy without foundation,” Dr Lisa Williams, founder and clinical director, The Autism Service, who was not involved in the study, told the Independent. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 January 2026
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Content ArticleConcerns have emerged about the impact of paracetamol use in pregnancy on child neurodevelopment, particularly in relation to autism spectrum disorder. This study published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal aimed to synthesise available evidence to investigate associations between prenatal paracetamol exposure and autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and intellectual disability. The current evidence does not indicate a clinically important increase in the likelihood of autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or intellectual disability in children of pregnant individuals who use paracetamol as directed, supporting existing recommendations on its safety.
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News Article
New immersive room in A&E will 'change so many lives'
Patient_Safety_Learning posted a news article in News
The parents of an autistic boy say a new immersive room in their local hospital's children's A&E will "change so many lives". Robert and Gemma Cummings spent the past year fundraising to open the room, which is the first of its kind in Wales, at the paediatric department of Prince Charles Hospital in their hometown of Merthyr Tydfil. The project was inspired by their own "distressing" experiences with their six-year-old son Ellis, who struggles with "sensory overload". They hope the room, officially opened on Thursday, will allow children to receive emergency care without parents reaching a "crossroads" in deciding whether or not hospital visits are worth the potential of trauma. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 December 2025 -
News Article
Wes Streeting orders review of mental health diagnoses as benefit claims soar
Mark Hughes posted a news article in News
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has ordered a clinical review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions, according to reports. Streeting is understood to be concerned about a sharp rise in the number of people making sickness benefits claims because of diagnoses for mental illness, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the Times reported. He has asked leading experts to investigate whether normal feelings have become “over-pathologised”, the newspaper said, as he seeks to grapple with the 4.4 million working-age people now claiming sickness or incapacity benefit. The figure has risen by 1.2 million since 2019, while the number of 16 to 34-year-olds off work with long-term sickness because of a mental health condition is said to have grown rapidly in the same period. Read full article. Source: The Guardian, 3 December 2025 -
Content ArticleParacetamol (acetaminophen) is one of the most commonly used drugs in pregnancy worldwide. It is the recommended treatment for pain relief and fever in pregnancy. In September 2025, the US president advised against using Tylenol (acetaminophen) during pregnancy, citing risks of autism in children exposed to the drug in utero. The announcement caused considerable concern among pregnant women and mothers of children with autism. Worldwide, regulatory health agencies and expert bodies, such as the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the European Medicines Agency, and the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, responded with reassurance about the safety of paracetamol use during pregnancy. This systematic review aimed to assess the quality, biases, and validity of evidence on maternal paracetamol (acetaminophen) use during pregnancy and the risk of autism spectrum disorder (referred to as autism) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in offspring. It concluded that there is no existing evidence does not clearly link maternal paracetamol use during pregnancy with autism or ADHD in offspring.
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News ArticleA wide-ranging review into paracetamol use by pregnant women has found no convincing link between the common painkiller and the chances of children being diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Publication of the work was fast-tracked to provide prospective mothers and their doctors with reliable information after the Trump administration urged pregnant women to avoid paracetamol – also known as acetaminophen or Tylenol – claiming it was contributing to rising rates of autism. Speaking at the White House in September, the US president said women should talk to their doctor about limiting the use of the painkiller while pregnant and followed up with far stronger language, telling women to “fight like hell” not to take it. While rates of autism have risen in recent decades, many scientists believe the trend is driven by greater awareness, improvements in diagnosis and a substantial broadening of the criteria doctors use to describe the condition. In an umbrella review published in the British Medical Journal on Monday, researchers analysed previously published scientific reviews on whether paracetamol raised the likelihood of pregnant women having children who are diagnosed with autism or ADHD. They concluded the quality of the reviews ranged from “low to critically low”, while any apparent link between the painkiller and autism was probably explained by family genetics and other factors. Prof Shakila Thangaratinam, a consultant obstetrician and senior author on the review at the University of Liverpool, said: “Women should know that the existing evidence does not really support a link between paracetamol and autism and ADHD. “If pregnant women need to take paracetamol for fever or pain then we would say please do, particularly because high fever in pregnancy could be dangerous to the unborn baby.” Alternative painkillers such as ibuprofen are not recommended during pregnancy. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 November 2025
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News Article
USA: Doctors issue warning about ‘autism drug’ endorsed by Trump administration
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A drug endorsed by the Donald Trump administration which allegedly treats against a rare disorder that causes autism-like symptoms has triggered a surge in demand from parents, despite a lack of data supporting its use. More parents in the U.S. are asking for leucovorin, believing it could unlock speech and social connection in their autistic children. Paediatricians and specialists caution the science on leucovorin in autistic people as the data is limited and does not support widespread use. In the month since Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary promoted the decades-old drug from GSK, saying it could help hundreds of thousands of autistic children, doctors and researchers say they have been inundated by parents seeking information. “My Facebook feed is flooded with parents swearing that leucovorin works,” said Dr. David Mandell, a professor of psychiatry and autism researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Mandell and other scientists and doctors say Trump’s endorsement, without requiring large, randomized clinical trials, leaves practitioners facing emotional pleas from families while lacking data, guidance or confidence to prescribe the drug responsibly. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 November 2025 -
Content ArticleDeclan Morrison died on 2 April 2022, aged 26. He had diagnoses which included ASD, ADHD and Learning Disability. Declan was largely non-verbal and required 24-hour residential care. His needs were highly complex. He lacked mental capacity to make decisions in his own best interests. Between 2014 and March 2022 he resided in private placements sourced by Cambridgeshire County Council’s Learning Disability Partnership. Declan moved into his final placement in May 2021 after the previous placement had become unable to meet his needs. By the end of 2021 (latest) it was agreed by all the professionals involved in his care and the private care provider that this placement was also unable to meet Declan’s complex needs. His mental health and behaviour began to deteriorate as a result. The private care provider felt that they could not consequently keep Declan (and other residents) safe. Despite attempts to find Declan an alternative appropriate placement CCC’s LDP could find nothing available either locally or nationally. Declan’s mental health and behaviour declined further and as the result of an incident on 8 March 2022 whereby he was detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act. Declan was taken to Addenbrookes Hospital Emergency Department in Cambridge as a place of safety where he was then further detained under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act. There was no suitable hospital placement available and so Declan was taken to the Section 136 Suite at Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge. The evidence was clear – the Section 136 Suite is suitable only as a temporary placement for those suffering an immediate mental health crisis. It is/was not a suitable facility for longer term detention and or for someone with Declan’s complex needs. Staff there were not appropriately trained to care for him. Declan’s mental health declined further in the Section 136 Suite. His behaviour became more agitated and disturbed. As a result, he engaged in self-harming behaviours including blows to the head. Declan died from head injuries on 2 April 2022. Matters of concern: The evidence revealed that there is currently a widespread shortage of available placements for someone with Declan’s complex needs both in the community and within the NHS. Once it was clear that Declan’s community placement had broken down in late 2021 no suitable alternative could be found. This resulted in a decline in Declan’s mental health and behaviour which ultimately necessitated his detention under the Mental Health Act. There was then nowhere suitable to detain him under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act. The Section 136 Suite was completely inappropriate. Declan’s mental health and behaviour declined further and ultimately this resulted in his death. Declan was in crisis for several months – the facilities were simply not available in the community and once detained, in order to prevent his death.
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Content ArticleResearch by the Children’s Commissioner shows around 400,000 children in England were still waiting at the end of 2022-23 to receive their first appointment after being referred to Community Health Services and Children’s Mental Health Services. This is equivalent to around 3% of England’s total child population. Unlike adults, children with neurodevelopmental conditions are assessed in both Community Health and Mental Health Services – meaning using existing national data, it is impossible to answer how long children are waiting for diagnosis with neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD and autism in England. This report uses the Children’s Commissioner’s legislative powers to draw on unpublished data on neurodevelopmental condition diagnoses from NHS England to provide a novel and more joined up national picture of children’s waiting times across both mental health and Community Health Services. Data is taken from the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24.
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News ArticleNHS-funded access to private autism and ADHD services is “unsustainable” and “up to three times more expensive than our local provision”, according to an integrated care board’s review. Northamptonshire ICB found the use of independent providers under “right to choose” rules for diagnosis and treatment of autism and ADHD was expected to cost it £3m in 2024-25, according to the document obtained by HSJ. This represents an additional 66% on top of its £4.5m budget for its commissioned autism and ADHD services. Extremely long waits, rocketing demand, and a growing market nationally have seen a big rise in people exercising choice rules, which require commissioners to pay for treatment if a provider has a contract with at least one other ICB. In its review of community paediatric services, the ICB said its spending growth on the independent sector is “unsustainable” as “costs are up to three times more expensive than our local provision”. NHS funding of the same services is effectively capped as they are on “block” contracts. The review was completed in December and recently released after a Freedom of Information request. Government has deprioritised tackling long waits for these services, but NHS England last year launched a national taskforce on the issue. The ICB’s review warned any “national solution will almost certainly involve greater use of the independent provider market”, which it said was less cost-effective than its commissioned services. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 May 2025
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News ArticleThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) will begin work on a comprehensive federal database of patient records to study autism and chronic disease, Director Jay Bhattacharya announced Monday. The commitment gives legs to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s calls to find the root cause of childhood autism, which he calls an epidemic. The NIH appears poised to put federal resources to work to create a central, shareable resource for the researchers that undertake RFK Jr.’s call to action. Last week at an event with reporters, Secretary RFK Jr. announced that HHS will soon be offering research grants for identifying the cause of autism, including exploring causes that were formerly considered taboo by the research community. “People will know they can research and follow the science no matter what it says, without any kind of fear that can be censored ... gaslighted ... silenced," he told reporters. The NIH will now work to build out a data resource consisting of medical records, insurance claims and data from wearable devices to aid autism researchers in their quest to find the root cause of the disease. Bhattacharya explained the initiative to a meeting of NIH advisors on Monday. The NIH will partner across the HHS and with external stakeholders. The data sources for the real-world data platform will be pharmacy chains, health organisations, clinical data, claims and billing, environmental, sensors and wearables. The initiative has sparked some privacy concerns from industry groups. "Compiling health and disability-related data from both federal and commercial sources to create a federal registry of people with autism, without individuals’ consent, is the latest dangerous effort by this Administration to repurpose Americans’ sensitive information for unchecked government use," Ariana Aboulafia, project lead of disability rights in technology policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in a statement. "This plan crosses a line in the sand, particularly given longstanding and historical concerns surrounding the creation of registries of people with disabilities. "The data that would be used to create this registry and inform governmental studies on autism was originally shared with government agencies and private companies, like insurers and wearable technology companies, for a wide range of purposes," Aboulafia said. "It’s unclear exactly who the federal government plans to share this data with, or how they’ll eventually use it. And, while NIH has claimed that the confidentiality of this information will be safeguarded using 'state of the art protections,' it’s also unclear if it’ll be anonymized or disaggregated, or how it will be protected from a hack or breach." Read full story Source: Fierce Healthcare, 22 April 2025
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News Article
USA: RFK Jr contradicts experts by linking autism rise to ‘environmental toxins’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said in his first press conference that the significant and recent rise in autism diagnoses was evidence of an “epidemic” caused by an “environmental toxin”, which would be rooted out by September. “This is a preventable disease, we know it’s environmental exposure, it has to be,” said Kennedy. “Genes do not cause epidemics, they can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin,” he said, despite known evidence against this claim. Kennedy’s remarks come after a new federal report suggests that autism rates in the US are rising. The report states that autism prevalence across the country has increased from 1 in 36 children to 1 in 31. Health researchers across various autism advocacy groups attribute the increase to the expansion of diagnostic tools and access to care, along with other factors. RFK disagreed with the consensus of health researchers, and said that “we need to move away” from the idea that the increase in autism prevalence “is simply due to better diagnostic tools”. The health secretary is instead using the data to support the idea that the rise in autism diagnoses is evidence of a growing “epidemic”. He added that “epidemic denial” towards autism had become a “feature of mainstream media”. In a statement about the CDC’s research, the Autism Society of America said: “This rise in prevalence does not signal an ‘epidemic’ as narratives are claiming – it reflects diagnostic progress, and an urgent need for policy decisions rooted in science and the immediate needs of the autism community.” The statement emphasised that the “rise in prevalence likely reflects better awareness, improved screening tools, and stronger advocacy”. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025 -
News Article
Rise in autistic children going to A&E putting pressure on NHS
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Positive Support Group said one child spent more than 120 days in hospital with ‘no medical need’ and warned that funding cuts were driving the surge Becky, a 46-year-old charity worker. said her 14-year-old daughter Sofia first called the emergency services because she has autism and was in extreme distress during a crisis “At the time, I had no support,” said Becky, a 46-year-old charity worker. “In a way, Sofia calling in the ambulance was a saving grace for us.” Her called the emergency services when she was 13, not because she was in physical danger, but because she has autism and was in extreme distress during a crisis. According to her mother, Sofia has required emergency care to cope with multiple crises over the years. NHS data analysed by the Positive Support Group (PSG) found that there were more than 20,000 episodes where children with autism were admitted to and discharged from emergency hospital care on the same day in 2023-24 — a 86% increase since 2019-20, according to the behavioural health group. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 2 April 2025 -
News Article
US CDC plans study into vaccines and autism, sources say
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links. The CDC's move comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks the U.S. has seen in the past decade, with more than 200 cases and two deaths in Texas and New Mexico. The outbreak has been fueled by declining vaccination rates in parts of the United States where parents have been falsely persuaded that such shots do more harm than good. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, whose role includes authority over the CDC, has long sowed doubt over the safety of the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). In a cabinet meeting last week, Kennedy initially downplayed news that a school-aged child had died of measles in Texas, the first such death in a decade, calling such outbreaks ordinary and failing to mention the role of vaccination to prevent measles. Last weekend Kennedy published an opinion piece on Fox News that promoted the role of vaccination, but also told parents vaccination was a personal choice and urged them to consult with their physician. HHS and CDC cited what they described as skyrocketing autism rates in a joint statement on Friday. "CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening," the statement said. "The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering." Read full story Source: Reuters, 7 March 2025 -
News Article
Autistic woman wrongly locked up in mental health hospital for 45 years
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An autistic woman with a learning disability was wrongly locked up in a mental health hospital for 45 years, starting when she was just seven years old, the BBC has learned. The woman, who is believed to be originally from Sierra Leone, and who was given the name Kasibba by the local authority to protect her identity, was also held on her own in long-term segregation for 25 years. Kasibba is non-verbal and had no family to speak up for her. A clinical psychologist told File on 4 Investigates how she had begun a nine-year battle to release her. The Department of Health and Social Care told the BBC it was unacceptable that so many disabled people were still being held in mental health hospitals and said it hoped reforms to the Mental Health Act would prevent inappropriate detention. More than 2,000 autistic people and people with learning disabilities are still detained, external in mental health hospitals in England - including about 200 children. For years, the government has pledged to move many of them into community care, because they do not have any mental illness. But all key targets in England have been missed. In the past few weeks, in its plan for 2025-26, external, NHS England said it aimed to reduce the reliance on mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people, delivering a minimum 10% reduction. However, Dan Scorer, head of policy and public affairs at the charity Mencap, is not impressed. "Hundreds of people are still languishing, detained, who should have been freed and should be supported in the community, because we haven't seen the progress that was promised," he said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 March 2025 -
News ArticleWhen Sharren Bridges talks about her daughter’s last summer, in 2021, she chokes up and has to pause. In some ways, it was a good summer. Jen Bridges-Chalkley had a boyfriend and, like most parents of teenagers, Sharren would occasionally act as a taxi driver, taking them down to the local river to swim. On 12 October 2021, Jen killed herself at her mother’s home. She was 17. At the inquest, which concluded in April 2024, the coroner said her suicide could have been avoided if she had received the support she needed “in a timely manner”. It was “a multi-agency failure”, he concluded in the report, which is a devastating document: 81 pages of missed opportunities, bad communication and poor decision-making. “There was a failure of the agencies to work effectively together to ensure that Jen’s needs were met,” the coroner wrote. Safeguarding failure; failure by educational establishments; failure by child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs). “For much of the time between May 2018 and June 2020, she was on a waiting list for therapy from the psychology team and was awaiting assessment.” He concluded that Camhs had failed “properly to assess, diagnose and treat Jen … in order to manage her conditions and minimise her risk of suicide”. Camhs is the NHS service for children with emotional, behavioural and mental health issues. Its staff includes psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists and social workers. It aims to provide support and treatment, including therapy, medication and in-hospital care. Sharren’s assessment of Camhs, provided in Jen’s case by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS foundation trust, is simple: “It’s not fit for purpose.” Sharren is angry when she speaks about Camhs. “Jen is a person, she’s my daughter, she’s my everything, and she’s not here any more because people didn’t do their job. They didn’t do their job when she was five, they didn’t do their job when she was 11, they didn’t do their job when she was 14, 15, 16, 17, and now she’s not going to get older than 17.” In a statement, Graham Wareham, the chief executive of Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS foundation trust, said: “We remain deeply saddened by Jennifer’s tragic death and we have expressed our deepest condolences to her family. Our investigation into the support we provided Jennifer found that while we gave care and consideration into delivering a person-centred therapeutic approach to meet Jennifer’s mental health needs, we acknowledge that there were shortcomings. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 February 2025
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News Article
18 ICBs warned over deaths following care failures
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Disjointed, delayed, and substandard care for people with both mental illness and additional needs are highlighted throughout reports sent to integrated care boards on the deaths of 24 people, HSJ has found. A lack of inpatient beds, poor communication, staff shortages, and care fragmentation were common concerns raised with 18 ICBs in relation to 24 deaths linked to mental health care since the boards’ creation in July 2022, HSJ analysis reveals. Of a total of 53 “prevention of future death reports” addressed to ICBs, 24 focused primarily on mental health – the most common theme of the reports. Many of those who died were young, and many had additional needs, such as autism, ADHD or learning disabilities. They often endured long delays because of poorly-connected physical and mental health services. Some were refused multiple referrals because of the complexity of their needs. Twenty-two of the 24 deaths were from suicide or self-harm. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 January 2025 -
EventuntilRecent care scandals show that the system has been failing too many people with learning disabilities and autism for too long and we need a new approach to restraint. This RCNi event will look at restraint, how it can be avoided - and when it can’t be avoided how it can be done safely and ethically with a human rights approach. Evidence shows that nurses are seeing more behaviours that challenge than ever before, so it's important to have the skills and knowledge to deal with situations when they arise. As well as examining issues around restraint and seclusion, our panel of experienced nurses will give you practical strategies to use restraint effectively and safely for both you and the service user. Register
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Content ArticleRebecca Bauers, Interim Director for People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People, and Chris Dzikiti, Director for Mental Health, talk about CQC’s new cross-sector policy position statement on restrictive practice, what it means for providers, and what people receiving healthcare services have the right to expect. As well as sharing the new policy, they discuss what forms restrictive practices can take, and explain how the use of blanket restrictions diminishes the therapeutic power of person-centred, trauma-informed care.
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Content ArticleIn her first blog as Interim Director of People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People, Rebecca Bauers talks about the importance of listening to the voices of people with lived experience; about how we have been gathering insight to shape our priorities, and how we intend to use our new powers to assess integrated care systems and local authorities.
