Meeting documents

Apologies for absence were received from Coral Collisson, Ian King, Caroline Hart, Paulette Hunn, Kathy Nawaz, Clare Samways, Sally Slade, Ena Smale, Sam Girling and Olga Hamer.

Debi Game, explained that SUCO has agreed the procedure for electing Service User and Carer Co-Chairs for Buckinghamshire County Council Partnership Boards.  The process is similar to the elections for school governors.

The procedure has been agreed by all of the Partnership Boards and by the Executive Board.

Each Partnership Board has the flexibility to determine what suits them best. The election process should be a simples simple and straightforward procedure which meets the needs of the Board. There also needs to be transparency, clarity and fairness.

Zita Calkin explained that a member of the Board has volunteered for the position of Co-Chair.

An email is to be sent to members of the Board asking for expressions of interest in becoming the Co-Chair to be submitted by 22 August 2014.  Details of the role of the Co-Chair will be sent with the email.

Action: Zita Calkin

If there are a number of volunteers, they will be asked to submit a short personal statement (no more than 500 words) which will be circulated anonymously to other members of the Board.  The expectation is for the Co-Chair to be in place by the October meeting.

A reminder is to be sent to Service Users and Carers about completing SUCO registration forms.

Action: Debi Game

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2014.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 11 June 2014 were agreed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

Carers Bucks – supporting carers and young carers

Ann Whiteley referred to the update given at the last meeting by Phillipa Taylor about young carers and their siblings and the pressures they face. Raising awareness is a big challenge.  Carers Bucks offer one to one services.  Each young carer is given an assessment to try to establish their needs as these are sometimes not evident at first.  There is the tendency for young carers to feel safe when they attend a group with lots of other young carers in the same situation.  Young carers feel they have to be strong for their parents and provide support for their siblings.

A lot of children do not want friends and schools to know that they are caring for a family member.  We need to respect their wishes. A lot of time is spent working with young people to build up a relationship. 

During the meeting concern was expressed about a gap around picking up issues of depression in relation to young carers and their siblings. Ann explained that Carers Bucks picks up quite a lot of this work.

Is the support at Carers Bucks given by a Young Carers Group or by professionals? Very little psychological support is provided by Carers Bucks as this is not our role. The individual would be referred to the appropriate service for support depending on their age i.e. Educational Psychology or CAMHS. Some young people do not want to be referred to professional services.  There is also the issue of the young person fitting the criteria for the service and the need for there to be a seamless transition from Carers Bucks to professional support. There is a waiting list for most referrals.  Ideally the process would flow. The referral process can also be very off putting. Carers Bucks does have two Connexions workers.

Would it help if the services were combined? It would depend if it was appropriate to combine the specific services.  Depending on the level of depression, it might not be appropriate to refer the young person to a psychologist.  It might just be a case of needing support from a peer group.

GPs are able to make referrals to CAMHS which could be supported by MIND.  It is about the commissioning process and who pays for what.

The provision of support and the referral process seems to be very hit and miss.  There are barriers and complications for those who want to access professional support services.  The route is also not clear. The issues and questions raised can be taken back to the Young Carer Managers for comments and feedback to the Board.

Action: Ann Whiteley

Is there the opportunity for the Autism Partnership Board to improve the process and how could this be done? An example is Carers Bucks has a bursary which can be used to make a referral to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Zita Calkin explained that the Diagnostic Pathway for Adults document has been finalised.  A presentation of the work completed so far will be made at the August meeting of the Clinical Commissioning Executive Group for sign off an agreement. 

There are 10 people on a waiting list for the pilot of the diagnostic pathway. The pack would sit on the system in a GP surgery.  It gives simple questions to ask the person about their difficulties and directs them to where they are best suited for a diagnosis, intervention and support. Patients are then given an AQ-10 assessment which is a list of questions which are scored.  If a referral is felt to be more appropriate, there is a flow chart of simple questions around learning difficulties and mental health issues.  A referral can also be directed internally.

One of the questions the individual is asked is why do they want a diagnosis. There is also the issue of the individual understanding the meaning of the diagnosis. There are a number of outcomes;

Outcome 1

Decision not to make a referral for diagnosis

Outcome 2

If the individual goes through the assessment process and the results are negative, the key needs of the individual would be identified and they would be directed to the appropriate service/support.  Their GP would be advised of the action and recommendations to keep them in the loop.

Outcome 3

A post diagnostic meeting with individual is used to explain the outcome and ensure that contact is made with the Autism Development Worker (ADW).  The ADW will ensure that individuals are provided with information and advice as well as signposted to support/network groups and social care is a community care assessment is necessary.

Oxford Health has allocated one day a week for psychology and psychiatry assessments.

During the update, the following questions were asked.

When will the diagnostic pathway be launched?  GPs will receive information in September.

Could awareness of the pathway be increased by including details on the SUCO bulletin?  This suggestion can be taken to the CCGs for discussion.  Time needs to be given for the process to embed otherwise patients could turn up at their GP surgery and GPs might not be aware of the pathway.  The delay in the launch of the service has been in order to ensure a robust screening/referral process; lessons have been learnt from the Oxford service.

Action: Zita Calkin

Is it the same process for the early diagnosis of autism in young children? Ideally there should be the same process for early diagnosis of autism in children.  A number people in the 40’s/50’s age group have been missed in the process whilst they were at school as the interventions they received were for other things i.e. anger.  Autism was missed. This piece of money is to pick up the backlog of those missed.  Oxford Health has been given funding to provide the new service which will be for adults.  Professor John Pimm will run the service from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This item was deferred to the October meeting.

Updates on the following;

·       Autism event

·       Training by service users and carers

·       Alert cards/passports

·       E-learning

Zita Calkin reported that a very small number of responses have been received to the email asking for member involvement in the Working Groups.

Mr Greenfield expressed an interest in becoming involved with the Training Working Group.

Action: Zita Calkin/Paulette Hunn

Autism Event

Ann Whiteley explained that she has been working with Paulette and Susan on the arrangements and planning for the Autism Event ‘Inspire, Inform, Involve’ which is taking place on the 17 October at the Oculus, Aylesbury Vale District Council. Tricia Birchley, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and Cheryl Gillan, MP will be a speaking at the event. Representatives from Aylesbury College and Bucks New University will also be attending.

The expertise of Board members is required to help set up the event.  In terms of speakers, do we want people with autism and carers or professional speakers? The understanding is this is a celebratory event which includes core speakers.  As well as ‘exciting’ speakers, there needs to be market stalls to provide information and advice.  There could also be a ‘shout room’ which has boards where people can put their needs and concerns.

What is the expected outcome of the conference?  The event gives the opportunity to provide information about systems and support services for autism which are available in Bucks. The possibility of filmed interviews has also been discussed.

It would be good to have a catalogue of events in Bucks i.e. the Local Offer.

The following suggestions were made about the content of the event;

·       Information about support available for individuals with autism going into Further Education or University.

·       Market stalls from professional support services such as Relate which could offer bookable 5 minute slots for surgeries.

·       Benefits are a big issue.  Carers Bucks and the Job Centre Plus have benefits advisors to support the process.

·       A representative from the Education Department to explain the new system to support children in schools (SEN team/officer)

·       Training session on communication

·       The Berkley Foundation to give an update on employment

·       Housing

·       Supporting Living

·       Assessment and diagnosis

·       Health and Social Care

·       The Jigsaw Theatre (Art related activities)

·       The Saturday Club

·       The Key Club Bucks, Wycombe (Saturday workshops for 16-30 year olds who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome or high functioning autism).

·       The Transitions process

·       Connexions – special needs employment consultant

Training by service users and carers

When the strategy was written, this was to draw a line under what had/had not happened before the use of the baseline.  Training needs to be structured in a tiered programme.  Existing training programmes are being looked at to identify any gaps and shape a robust programme going forward.

Work has taken place with Southern Health and Bucks Care on a draft work plan.  The plan will be looked at to see how it can cover adults and children and how it can be included in training for all staff across Health and Social Care.

The National Strategy talks about having a general awareness and core understanding of autism.  There is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Attached for information is the recent Government announcement about funding.

Zita Calkin explained that the original figure of £4.5m of revenue and capital funding from the Department of Health to improve autism services and increase awareness has been reduced to £1.2m. £1m is for innovative projects and £200,000 is for national coordination of an awareness and champions network.

The Department is inviting proposals for innovations projects in the following four areas:

·       Advice and information

·       Gaining and growing skills for independence

·       Early intervention and crisis prevention

·       Employment, particularly involving the use of apprenticeships

The deadline for submission of applications is 26 August 2014.

The suggestion was made of speaking to Adam Willison, Assistive Technology Joint Commissioner as there could be the opportunity to tie in with two current projects. The first project is taking place in conjunction with Transitions to look at the use of a smartphone to help with travel, training cooking and task scheduling to possibly access employment. The second project is around access to hospitals and GP surgeries.

Action: Zita Calkin

Autism Meetings

The possibility of combining the meetings of the Autism Partnership Board and Autism Project Board was discussed at the June meeting.

It was agreed that the meetings would be combined on a trial basis. The trial arrangement will start at the next meeting of the Autism Partnership Board on the 15 October 2014.

The October meeting will focus on the changes to education in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the impact on those with autism.

Action: C&YP commissioners & Education

An overview of the SEN Code of Practice and the Care Bill will also be given.

Action: Amy Moore

The next meeting of the Board will take place on Wednesday 15 October 2014, 10am, Mezzanine 1, County Hall, Aylesbury.

Future meeting dates for 2014;

3 December

The next meeting of the Board will take place on Wednesday 15 October 2014, 10am, Mezzanine 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

Future meeting dates for 2014;

3 December (Mezz 1)

Proposed meeting dates for 2015;

11 Feb

15 Apr

24 June

2 Sept

15 Oct

9 Dec

The meetings will be in Mezzanine 1, County Hall and will start at 10am.