A guide to auditing and improving mental health services so that they are effective in supporting people with autism and people with learning disabilities was launched at the Learning Disability Today conference.
The Green Light Toolkit, developed by the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), are practical new materials designed to help improve the quality of mental health services for adults with learning disabilities and/or autism.
A 2012 report by the NDTi, Reasonably Adjusted, described the reasonable adjustments mental health services were already putting in place for people with learning disabilities and people with autism. It found that there were pockets of imaginative and positive practice by local services – but little sharing or copying of good ideas.
As a result, the NHS Confederation, supported by the Department of Health, commissioned the NDTi to produce materials to help services review their own quality and share and replicate good practice.
The Toolkit includes:
• An audit framework to support reviews
• An ‘easy-read’ version of the audit framework and toolkit
• A database of examples of reasonable adjustments made by services, as a resource for people seeking to innovate and share learning.
Stephen Dalton, chief executive of the Mental Health Network, which represents NHS-funded mental health and learning disability service providers, said: “We welcome this opportunity to focus attention on making services accessible for vulnerable individuals. Importantly, we need to see a comprehensive range of mental health services commissioned and gaps in provision addressed.”
To view the full tool kit, click here.
