NHS Birmingham and Solihull FOI Request Regarding Autism Provision 2012

See also Autism Provision by NHS Primary Care Trust 2012.

 

Dear Ms McCulloch

 

Thank you for your information request.  Please find the PCT Cluster’s response as follows:

This is as per the national prevalence which is in the region of 1% – therefore indicatively we would expect that about 1100 of the citizens of Birmingham may have an Autistic Spectrum disorder.

 

How many children;

The PCT Cluster is unable to respond because this information is not held in a reasonable format.  To provide and collate any information would require staff to go through the notes of all patients. There are a minimum of  5000 paper records across 9 locations which would need to be scrutinised plus many more records that have been archived (in excess of thousands). It is not known how long it would take to review per file but it is expected to be 0.5 to 1 hour dependent upon the size of the file to be reviewed.  It is generally known that this will exceed the time and cost compliance under FOIA Section 12 Exemption where the cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit and therefore allows public authorities to refuse a request which exceeds their appropriate limit (£450 for health organisations).

 

The PCT Cluster is currently looking into recording diagnostic coding so that this information is held in the future.

(a) Adults:

In the absence of any other mental health issues the NHS in Birmingham has an agreement with an independent hospital to undertake Autism Assessments for adults who are believed to have high functioning, this provides an initial assessment and outpatient follow up service. This service commenced in May 2012.

 

(b) Children:

When children and young people have a significant mental health problem and suspected ASD they can be referred to Community CAMHS.  The process once a referral is received is as follows:

·         Referral is screened for risk and to assess if the referral meets the CAMHS access criteria

·         Choice appointment offered if accepted. Discussion with the child/young person regarding their presenting problem and possible options for treatment if CAMHS is the appropriate service. If neuro-developmental assessment required the following process is implemented:

–          Neuro-developmental assessment / work up

–          Diagnosis / Formulation

–          Psycho-education and parent training (Cygnet)

–          Autism specific case work – Individual and Family interventions for children and families

–          Discharge

·         The assessment process may take a number of sessions and the treatment plan would be based on the individual needs of the child/young person. Treatment will be based on NICE Guidance where appropriate.

Adults:

Autism West Midlands, Woodbourne Priory Hospital, Cambian Healthcare, St Andrews Healthcare,  Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, Birmingham Community Healthcare Trust, Birmingham Social Services.

 

Children:

Birmingham Children’s Hospital CAMHS provides services City wide from a number of locations and bases throughout the City.

Under Section 21 information accessible to the applicant by other means, these are reasonably available within the public domain by completing a search on any internet search engine.

 

What is the typical process for an adult in your area first asking their GP for an assessment for autistic spectrum disorder to receiving a diagnosis/support.

GPs will identify if there are any co-morbid mental health needs and refer to BSMHFT for general mental health assessment and intervention

 

If there are no co-morbid mental health needs a letter of referral will be sent to the joint mental health commissioning team who triage all assessment referrals and then passes them to the specialist assessor. If BSMHFT considers one of their patients with co-morbid mental health needs a specialist ASD assessment a letter of referral will be sent to the joint mental health commissioning team who then passes them to the specialist assessor.