NATIONAL CARE PROVIDER CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION ON AUTISM FOLLOWING NAO REPORT
Craegmoor Healthcare, the leading provider of specialist support to people with learning disabilities, mental health illnesses and other complex needs, has today called for the Government to implement the recommendations made in the National Audit Office (NAO) report on supporting people with autism through adulthood, which was published last week.

 The report calls for increased investment to improve care planning, commissioning and service delivery for those with autism and Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC), after finding a lack of awareness and training amongst both Government and local authority staff of how to diagnose and effectively record the prevalence of people living with autism in the UK.

Ted Smith, Craegmoor’s Chief Executive Officer, said this morning:

“Craegmoor is calling on Government to do more to help people with autism and Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC).  Quite rightly, this requires more resources, more time and more co-operation between Government departments, local authorities, care commissioners and service providers - as the NAO’s report recommends.

“Craegmoor has been working to address the challenges that people with autism face by listening to those who use our services and in the coming weeks we will be appointing a Quality Development Advisor for Autism, who will help shape Craegmoor’s processes and policies to ensure the best possible outcomes for those who use our services and live with autism.

“If we are to provide first-class individualised support to people with autism, then it is essential that we have accurate figures documenting the number of people with autism and ASC. This is precisely why we warmly welcome the NAO’s call for better training of local authority staff and GPs and we hope that this call will be heeded.

“Like the NAO, we also hope to see further specialist health, social care and employment support being offered to adults with autism – particularly those with high-functioning autism.  From  listening to those who use our services we know that many people with high-functioning autism would love to enter the workforce, and we think that it should be a priority of Government,  local authorities, care commissioners and service providers to help support them to do so.