A delivery plan for the first year should be published by the end of this month. Key points from the strategy document include those outlined below:
- The DH will establish a national autism programme board, which will be co-chaired by the Minister for Care Services and the Director-General of social care. Other government departments and stakeholder groups will also have representatives on the board, which will be tasked with determining direction of travel and monitoring progress on delivering the strategy.
- Autism awareness training should be incorporated into equality and diversity courses across the public sector.
- NICE will shortly publish an autism guideline, which will include a model care pathway to support commissioners in the development of referral and care pathways.
- The revised Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) guidance outlines the information that adults with autism, their families and carers are likely to require following diagnosis. The Government encourages local authorities and PCTs to produce shared information templates to support patients through this process.
- The DH will be publishing guidance for mental health and learning disabilities services covering areas such as premises and staff communication. This document will be made available across the public sector.
- It is expected that adults with autism should be eligible for personal budgets.
- Estimates of the prevalence of autism within local areas will be a feature of revised Joint Strategic Needs Assessments in spring 2010.
- A regional delivery plan for each government region will be produced as the result of collaboration between the DH, ADASS, SHAs and local authorities among others.
- The DH will assume lead responsibility for agreeing a protocol around information collection and sharing.
To download the strategy visit the Department of Health’s website