Adult Services
Hampshire Autism Partnership Board 11th September 2012 10:00 – 12:00 Mitchell Room, EII Court, Winchester Present:
Steve Taylor (Director of Integrated LD Services) – Chair Angie Garrathy (Partnership Manager, Southampton Jobcentre Plus) [Speaker] Pam Hall (Head of Working and Learning, Enham) [Speaker] Linda Burgess (Commissioning Officer, Adult Services, Lead Autism Officer- HCC) Martha Fowler-Dixon (Early Intervention & Prevention Commissioning Director, HCC) Alex Goodrich (Hampshire Autism Voice) Margaret White (Hampshire Autism Voice and FLASH) Rachel Carter (Hampshire Autism Voice & Co-Lead Officer of South Hampshire NAS) Denise Long (Hampshire Autism Voice) Luke Syddall (Hampshire Autism Voice) Vicky Jessop (Commissioning Officer – employment lead – HCC) Karen Templeton-Mepstead (Outreach Manager – Hampshire Autistic Society) Liz Manship (Post 14 Learning Officer (LLDD – HCC) Peter Crowley (Consultant in Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Sussex Partnership Trust) Dr Kevin O’Shea (Consultant Psychiatrist – HPFT & Autism Diagnosis Clinical Lead) Tracey Sellers (London & South East Area Development Officer – NAS) Ann O’Brien (Commissioning Officer [autism lead officer], Social Care – IOW) Florence Garland (Learning Disability Partnership Board Administrator – HCC) [observer] Chelsea Webster (Senior Administrator and Minute Taker)
Apologies – Deputy Attended in Absence:
Rosemary Goodrich (Hampshire Autism Voice) Andrew Monaghan (Chief Executive Officer – Hampshire Autistic Society) Gill O’Leary (Strategic Commissioning Manager Autism Strategy Lead - HCC)
Apologies Received:
Pat Abbott (Clinic Manager - Autism Diagnostic Research Centre) Dr Tony Brown (Clinical Director – Autism Diagnostic Research Centre) Jan Wells (Head of Learning Support Services - Queen Mary’s College) Dr Teri McAleer (Clinical Psychologist LD Services - SHFT) Sarah Kiel (General Inspector/Adviser SEN, Education and Inclusion, Children's Services - HCC) Dave Ashton (Youth Support Service – HCC) Liz McGill (Commissioning Manager MH, Adult Services - HCC) Dr Gabriel Whitlingum (Consultant Pediatrician, Royal Hampshire County Hospital) Amanda Kent (Hampshire Advocacy Regional Group [HARG] & Speakeasy Advocacy) Martin Goodwin (Education Officer SEN West – HCC) Emma Robertson (Business Manager, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Criminal Justice Board) Neil Lovell (Locality Service Manager, Surrey & Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust) Linda Lawless (LD Commissioning Officer – SCC)
0b97044c9ce8f1181e4718ce7ece9345.doc Page 1 of 6 Agenda Subject Action
Welcome and Apologies 1. Chair: Steve Taylor, Director of LD Services
Members agreed horseshoe layout of meeting was preferred.
Previous Minutes and Matters Arising 2.
Spelling mistake on page 3 in section 5. Jo ‘Kiff’ rather then Jo ‘Kuff’ on 2nd action. Minutes agreed.
Actions: 1) Linda gave a brief update for Portsmouth, received from Jason Hope.
2) Katy Bartolomeo’s PCT autism lead maternity cover is now covered by Clare Dorn (previously Debbie Seago). PCT Action to be picked up at next HAPB.
3) Peter gave feedback on his consultancy project for Sussex Foundation Trust re: Diagnostic Services for Children with autism. An important issue is data gathering. Where there are specialist ASD teams, people are referring to them. There should be a shared responsibility between CAMHS and Paediatric. To move forward, this needs to be addressed by Health Commissioners. There are national figures that show the demand for autism diagnosis and capacity required to meet demand. All teams are now gathering data and the outcome will be the development of a specific Hampshire Children’s autism diagnostic pathway through GPs. GP awareness of autism will be enhanced through this pathway.
The adult with Asperger and HFA autism diagnosis service was commissioned last year. The service went live on 1st November 2012 (The Micklem Centre - Winchester Assessment Clinic). For people who are very complex, there is spot purchasing, and go through a different provider (ADRC). People with a LD and autism are referred to another provider (SHFT).
Clarity is needed from the commissioners in terms of what the core offer from health is for a children’s diagnostic pathway. Managing the waiting lists is a priority. If anyone’s child has been on a waiting list for a long time, they should contact the service manager to inform them.
4) Linda updated everyone on the workforce development action. Maria Haywood’s costing paper for SHIP-wide
0b97044c9ce8f1181e4718ce7ece9345.doc Page 2 of 6 autism training is with SHIP colleagues for discussion and agreement.
5) Phillip Walker gave a useful presentation on 16+ educational at the last HAPB meeting. Discussions took place around Further Education. An example of an Linda individual was given to highlight difficult issues around Burgess transport. Linda to follow up
6) Re: The Autism Directory. Feedback received from Karen – the working group has come to an agreement proceed Karen SHIP-wide with the local directory. There are no time Templeton- scales at present. Further updates will be provided to the Mepstead Board when information is available.
3. Theme: Employment:
Guest Speaker Pam Hall
Pam Hall gave a presentation of what Enham offers and its historical journey.
Presentation attached:
autism partnership board pres.pptx
Questions asked:
1) How many people with diagnosed autism had gone through the Enham services in the past 12 months? Recording is more around outcomes for people e.g. people getting in to work placements and people getting back in to college. 2) How much support goes in around helping people maintain their jobs? Through Work Choice, there are support workers that support individuals that need it. Most individuals would say if they felt they needed extra help. Commissioning is through ‘Working and Pensions’ and the ‘skills’ funding agency. 3) Were there particular groups of people identified where there are gaps in the services for them? Yes, a good number of the younger people they work with do not fit specifically in to any one service.
Guest Speaker Angie Garrathy
Angie Garrathy gave a brief description of the role of the ‘Job Centre’ for people with disabilities. Main points:
People will be able to apply for their benefits online and will
0b97044c9ce8f1181e4718ce7ece9345.doc Page 3 of 6 have an appointment at the job centre within 48 hours where they will be introduced to a personal advisor. People with a disability encounter other barriers to secure and maintain work ie employer’s perceptions, travel issues. The Job Centre activities that were in place to breakdown some of these barriers was explained. There is a growing number of different employers working with JC+ to help secure people with disabilities into employment. JC+ is currently looking at the age group 18 – 24 and getting people contracts for work experience. Looking to develop relationships with employers further. The digital agenda is a very important topic within the Job Centre at the moment. A lot of challenges lie ahead, but all JC+ staff are trained in the new equipment and focused. Southampton JC+ is currently working with 93 organisations in Southampton alone who are willing to support people with disabilities into work.
Questions asked:
1) How do parents know geographically where the nearest job centre is that caters for individuals with disabilities? People are advised to look at the direct.gov website for this information. If there are any issues using the most local Job Centre and the next advised Centre is too far to travel to, due to disability or cost, it is advisable to talk to the customer services manager of the most local one. Most would accommodate. 2) Would DEA’s be able to go and visit vulnerable people who, due to their extra needs, could not get to an appointment at the centre? No, due to the high demand of the role they are unable to offer home visits as DEAs do not have capacity.
Discussions:
Steve requested that Job Centre Plus look into this last matter further. There were concerns over equality of services around people who are eligible for an assessment with the DEA, but who cannot attend an appointment on their own. Adult Services (LD and autism) gets a lot of funding requests for support workers to go with people to JC+. This would be reduced if DEAs were able to be more flexible and visit people. People with autism can suffer anxiety over going to new places, waiting for appointments, environments that over stimulate and have communication/processing difficulties. They are anxious about going to the JC+ and there is a huge risk of their talents going to waste and them becoming isolated at home.
Karen has been visiting JC+ centres across SHIP and providing training/presentations to raise autism awareness.
0b97044c9ce8f1181e4718ce7ece9345.doc Page 4 of 6 Some centres have only said they can present to DEA’s and other centres have asked that all their staff have autism awareness training.
Universal Job match will be coming online at the end of November 2012 which means people can do their job searches online.
Steve highlighted the issues around people who are eligible for an assessment with the DEA, but who cannot attend an appointment on their own. Steve feels he gets a lot of funding requests for support workers to go with people and there would be a lot less of these if the DEA could be more flexible and could go out to visit people. People with Autism can’t take their ‘comfort zone’ with them, so there’s a huge risk of them becoming isolated at home.
The Board members discussed the feedback from the 2011 and 2012 autism consultations in Hampshire. Linda Feedback was unanimous in that that when someone Burgess appears verbally confident, there is an assumption that they have capacity in every sense. It was agreed to set up a small group to discuss practical things that could help JC+ with communicating with individuals who have autism.
4. Feedback from Hampshire Autism Voice
Rachel Carter fed back from HAV. Please see attached:
120911 - HAV Update Brief to H...
Linda will make contact with Susan Dobson who is the Linda Joint Commissioning Lead for Children’s Services, to invite Burgess & her to HAV meetings. Steve and Linda to meet to discuss Steve further how best to make further links with Children’s Taylor Services.
Luke stated that he personally really enjoyed the Portsmouth Autism Research conference, felt it was ran very well and it was a great way to make links with other people. As a result of this conference, he’s now looking to do some work alongside Beatrice Lopez.
Rachel explained the varied and excellent responses received from visiting/talking to Adult Support Groups lead officers (in and out of County). One visited by HAV, Basingstoke Speakeasy’s ‘Virtual Friends’ was particularly of value and HAV thanked the Speakeasy members for
0b97044c9ce8f1181e4718ce7ece9345.doc Page 5 of 6 their time and help.
5. Autism Updates
Linda gave an update and explained that the HAPB’s Hampshire Autism Strategy for Adults is currently going through the DMT process Decision Day is 21st September.
Linda reminded HAPB members to reply (if not already) to their personal invites to the Hampshire Autism Strategy for Adults launch being held 9.00-13.00 Monday 5th November All in the Ashburton Hall, EII Court, Winchester. members
6. AOB
Apparently people newly diagnosis with autism are being signposted directly to Advocacy services. This is not appropriate. The pathway is that people are signposted to Linda Adult Services rather than going straight through to Burgess Advocacy. Linda will be making contact with Claire Dorn, to find out why this is happening.
Gill O’Leary’s list of agencies and people to be invited to Linda the launch was agreed to be used by members. Burgess Denise Denise has spoken to a reporter in Reading to make sure Long she is aware of the 5th November launch event taking place. No response as yet, but Denise will follow up.
A young person who has recently left school has Denise encountered college’s lack of knowledge around the ‘City Long/Linda and Guilds’ qualifications and education that HCC are Burgess funding. People may be missing out on FE opportunities. Further details to be provided outside meeting to enable this to be investigated further. Linda Next Board meeting agenda will be workshop style to Burgess / explore how the HAPB moves forward with supporting the Steve development for the Children’s Autism Strategy and the Taylor Adult Strategy implementation plan developments.
7. Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday 11th December 2012, 14.00- 16.00
Venue: Elizabeth II Court, Winchester – Mitchell Room
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