Rikenel

Montpellier

Gloucester

GL1 1LY

Direct Tel: 01452-894264

E-mail:

Website:

4 September 2014

Sent via e-mail to:-

Tom Crellin

DearMr Crellin

Freedom of Information Request – Ref: FOI 060TC-1415

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request. I am writing to confirm that the Trust has now finished its search for the information you requested on the Trust’s policy and procedures around Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) or “Autism Spectrum Disorder with demand avoidance”.

  1. Does your Trust have any specific policy regarding the diagnosis of PDA? If so, please enclose a copy of the relevant policy.
  • Gloucestershire Children & Young People Service (CYPS) and Herefordshire Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) do not have a specific policy.
  • Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Adults Service do not have a policy that deals specifically with the diagnosis of PDA.
  1. Does your Trust have any policy that would discourage or restrict clinicians from diagnosing conditions not described in the ICD, DSM, NICE guidance or other similar documents? If so, please enclose a copy of the relevant policy.
  • Gloucestershire CYPSand Herefordshire CAMHS do not have such a policy.
  • Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Adults Service do not have policies that set rules in relation to making a diagnosis. Different professions possess different skill sets and trainings, and they draw upon these when forming a clinical opinion.
  1. Please identify the team (or teams) that fulfil the role of the “autism team” as described in section 1.1 of the NICE guidance on autism diagnosis in children and young people (CG128). Please give the name of the team and their main postal address. If you have multiple teams that fulfil this role please indicate how the case load is apportioned between the teams (for instance by geographical coverage or age ranges).
  • Gloucestershire CYPSand Herefordshire CAMHS have countywide teams with staff with relevant competencies.
  • Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Adults Service –2gether NHS Foundation Trust provides Services in Gloucestershire and in Herefordshire. Each county has its own Commissioners, and the services we provide vary slightly between the two counties because of this.

For Children’s Services:

Gloucestershire has a Neuro-developmental service. Additionally, there is a small specialist service for children with a significant Learning Disability, and the service works with children who have both Learning Disabilities (LD) and an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC).

Herefordshire has similar arrangements. Services are accessed via referral by a GP. Referral information is available via the following:

Gloucestershire:

Herefordshire:Elaine Cook-Tippins

Acting Team Manager/Neurodevelopmental Team Co-ordinator

CAMHS, Herefordshire

Tel: 01432 378940

For Adult Services:

  1. The Trust seeks to ensure all Trust Mental Health Services are accessible on a non-discriminatory basis.
  2. The Trust’s Adult Services in Gloucestershire include a small specialist ASC service. This is a multi-disciplinary service that is commissioned to provide 50 diagnostic assessments each year, and to provide support to help people understand their diagnosis. The service offers consultancy, advice, and training to other professionals, and will signpost to other sources of help. Additionally, Gloucestershire Commissioners have very recently placed a contract with the Independence Trust to provide support to people with ASC in relation to occupation. (Please note that the Independence Trust is a separate organisation to 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, howeverthe Trust hopes to work closely with them.)
  3. Herefordshire currently has no specialist ASC team for Adults and this is recognised. The Trust is aware that Herefordshire Commissioners are looking at ways to resolve the gap.
  4. The Trust has Community Learning Disability Teams serving both Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, and their work includes support to Adults who have both a significant Learning Disability, and an ASC. The teams are accessed via referral by a GP.

Contact information is detailed below:

Gloucestershire

  • ASC Service:Jill Tyler

ASC Administrator

Ambrose House

Meteor Court

Barnett Way

Gloucester

GL4 3GG

Tel: 01452 894323

  • LD Services / Mental Health Services:

Contact Centre

Ambrose House

Meteor Court

Barnett Way

Gloucester

GL4 3GG

Tel: 01452 894337

Herefordshire

  • LD Services:Churchill House

Venns Lane

Hereford

HR1 1DE

  • Mental Health Services:

Monkmoor Court

31-34 Commercial Road

Hereford

HR1 4BG

  1. Please state the total number of clinical staff in your autism team(s). Please include in this figure all clinicians that are contracted to provide a regular service as well as those directly employed by the trust.
  • GloucestershireCYPS has a countywide team – the team has 1.0 whole time equivalent (WTE) Clinical Psychologist who works in partnership with clinicians both within 2gether NHS Foundation Trust and the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Paediatric Service.
  • Herefordshire CAMHS has a countywide team – we do not have an 'autism team' as described in the NICE guidance, however the Trust has a neurodevelopmental team that is staffed by 1 WTE Neurodevelopmental Co-ordinator, 0.4 WTE Psychologist plus Psychiatry, that provides assessment and interventions for both ASD and ADHD. The team is based at the Linden Centre.
  • Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Adults service– Thereare many workers (in a variety of professions) who do ASC work as part of wider remits. The specialist ASC Service for Adults in Gloucestershire has approximately 2.0 WTEstaff; however this is made up of 8 different clinicians.
  1. For the staff included in your answer to Q4 above please list any attendances at seminars, conferences and/or training sessions about PDA in the last five years that you have recorded. I do not need you to identify the individuals that attended; just the number of clinical staff that attended each PDA event will be sufficient.
  • Gloucestershire CYPS and Herefordshire CAMHS do not hold this information; however the Neurodevelopmental Team Co-ordinator confirmed they have not attended PDA specific training in the last 5 years.
  • Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Adults – The Trustdoes not hold this information in a readily accessible format.

Should you have any queries about this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or have a review of our decision, you should write to:-

Service Experience Manager,

2gether NHS Foundation Trust,

Rikenel,

Montpellier,

GLOUCESTER. GL1 1LY

Tel: 01452-891138

E-mail:

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot consider your case unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Trust. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Sharon D Small

SHARON SMALL

Information Governance Officer

2gether NHS Foundation Trust