Autism GP Guidance Document
We heard that autistic patients often found getting, and attending, GP appointments to be very difficult – people felt their needs weren’t understood by the GP practices.
Together with Autistic County Durham residents, we produced a guidance document for GP surgeries to help them provide better support to their autistic patients.
We listened to the experiences of people in our area and used their words and suggestions to create some simple ‘top tips’ that GP practices should keep in mind. We broke this down into 2 sheets – one for the receptionist and one for the GP, nurse or other clinician. We wanted to keep this brief and to one page each so the tips could be easily displayed in the work area, rather than filed away.
We know that every patient has very different needs, and our document can’t cover every situation – but we hope that it will be a reminder of some of the more commonly reported difficulties autistic patients experience, and prompt GP Practice staff to consider their needs more carefully.
As well as being available for the GP practices, the document has also been recognised by the following:
• North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care Board Mental Health Parity of Esteem Group, and Learning Disability Network
• NHS England Training and Education Directorate, NE & N Yorks Region
• Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag Project Team
• County Durham & Tees Valley Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Autism Partnership
• Primary Care Training Hub
We have been assured that the guidance will be included in NHS training for GPs, and will be rolled out alongside the Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag approach.
If you would like more information or to see the guidance document, get in touch with Tony:
07821650442
