Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) received a briefing note by the Scrutiny Co-ordinator and an Autism Update presentation by the Senior Joint Commissioner, Disabilities and Autism, working on behalf of Coventry and Warwickshire Councils and Coventry and Warwickshire NHS ICB, the Head of Commissioning and Quality, and the Associate Director of Operations Learning Disabilities & Autism Directorate, CWPT.

The Autism Task and Finish Group, jointly established by Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board 5 and Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board 2, took their recommendations to Cabinet on 12 April 2022.  The recommendations within the report were approved.  The briefing note updated Members on the implementation of these recommendations in Appendix 1.

The Autism update presentation highlighted:

• The Coventry and Warwickshire Autism Strategy
• Vision
• Five Local Strategy Priorities
• Key Areas of Work and progress so far including referral rates and adult autism diagnostic waiting times
  • A cyber-attack on data had made the August – October 2022 figures inaccessible.
  • The referral rate post Covid was higher in Coventry and Warwickshire than ever.  The longest wait in October 2022 was 175 weeks.
  • Benchmarking was taking place with other areas of the country and a new trajectory was being modelled.
• Future Priorities:

o  Supporting autistic people and those with social, communication and emotional health needs to help themselves pre and post diagnosis

o  Reducing inequalities for autistic people and making Coventry and Warwickshire autism friendly places to live

o  Developing a range of organisations locally with the skills to support autistic people

o  Developing the all-age autism specialist support offer

o  Co-producing, working together and learning about autism

o  Reducing waiting times from 242 to 13 weeks or lower by March 2024, in line with NICE guidelines.

Members of Scrutiny Board 5, having considered the content of the briefing note and presentation, asked questions and received information from officers on the following matters:

• Referrals of children were mainly from schools, social workers and families.
• The increase in referrals across Coventry and Warwickshire had been an even geographic spread. 
• Investment in training had meant autistic traits were being recognised earlier.
• Long periods of social isolation due to Covid had impacted on pre-school and school age children.
• ‘Dimensions’ and the e-brochure assisted with signposting and provision of information and advice for neurodivergent people and their families.
• Benchmarking against other health boards and cities was not possible due to each area recording Autism, ADHD and Neurodivergent data in different ways.
• Assessments were carried out both face to face and online and in healthcare and educational settings.  All 8 external providers offered online assessments.

Scrutiny Board 5 Members expressed concerns over the long wait times for diagnostic assessments and requested information on the following:

• How many employees of Coventry City Council were autistic (if available) and how the City Council supported autistic employees.
• Could an alternative funder be found for the Employ Autism scheme? If not, whether there were plans for the City Council to introduce an in-house scheme. It was recommended that for Members participating in Autism Awareness Training, this would be discussed at the Member Training Panel.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Board:

1.  Note the update on the implementation of the recommendations from the Autism Task and Finish Group.

2.  Note there is a joint Task and Finish Group considering issues of Autism in Schools which is due to report to the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) this municipal year.