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Meeting Details
Date: Tuesday 26 November 2024
Time: 11:00 – 13:00
Venue: Microsoft Teams Meeting
Agenda Item: Pre-Meeting Support
Agenda Item 1 : Welcome and Introduction
1.1 Welcome and introductions made. Communication prompts posted to the Teams Chat window, and their use explained. No reasonable adjustments were requested. Members reported no declaration of
interest.
Minutes and action log approved by the Norfolk Autism Partnership Board (NAPB)
Code of Conduct to be monitored by Lee Gibbons
1.2 Partners were notified that an automatic transcript of the meeting would take place to ensure accuracy of minutes. There were no objections
1.3 Action: To keep in contact with Tracey Wooldridge regarding further updates to the Care, Education and Treatment Review process (On Hold)
1.4 Action: Andrew O’Connell to contact the NHS England regional team to explain why they are unable to
include someone without a formal diagnosis in the LeDeR review and share this with the Board. (In progress)
1.5 Action: Andrew O’connell to forward the 2023 LeDeR review when published. Expected November 2024 (In Progress)
Agenda Item 2 : Right Care, Right Person
2.1 Overview:
Mark provided an update on Norfolk Police’s “Right Care, Right Person” initiative aimed at ensuring appropriate responses to non-criminal welfare-related calls. This project was developed in collaboration with health, education, and social care agencies to improve call triage, resource allocation, and support.
2.2 Key Developments:
Right Care Right Person is focused on assessing the number of welfare-related calls entering the contact and control room and identifying the most appropriate agency to respond to them. A key part of the project involves working with other agencies to align responses and address potential problems or risks.
2.3 Scripts and Protocols:
Scripts have been developed for staff in the contact and control room to guide responses. If a caller’s
issue is not a police matter, the script directs them to the appropriate agency.
- If a welfare concern is raised, police will respond if requested, but efforts are being made to ensure the right agencies are involved
2.4 Outcomes:
Since the implementation of Right Care Right Person, there has been a reduction of 1,043 fewer calls
related to welfare concerns in 2024 compared to 2023, indicating the positive impact of partnerships
with other agencies.
2.5 Grading System:
Half of the reduction in calls is attributed to the improved grading system, which ensures police resources are allocated to the right issues, with appropriate agencies handling other concerns.
2.6 Mental Health Crisis Response:
There has been a reduction in the use of Section136, as well as a decrease in the time spent managing mental health crises. The number of calls related to mental health has declined, and waiting times for specialist support have been reduced.
Individuals in mental health crises are now being taken to A&E as a place of safety for both mental and
physical health assessments, with progress measured through regular meetings with partner agencies
2.7 Custody and Mental Health Assessments:
- Mental health assessments are now being conducted outside of custody, except for cases where the individual is a suspect of an offense, rather than being brought in solely for mental health concerns.
- Right Care Right Person had one point raised regarding the potential impact on neurodiverse individuals
2.8 Next Steps:
Further evaluation and ongoing communication with partner agencies to address any concerns, including ensuring that neurodiverse individuals receive appropriate support.
2.9 Conclusion:
Right Care Right Person is showing positive results in terms of reduced police involvement in welfare-related issues, with agencies more confident in handling these matters independently. Regular collaboration with partners continues to drive improvements in response times and outcomes. Police are currently relying on the individual to communicate that they are autistic as they may not have immediate access to relevant records to find this information.
2.10 Action: Lee Gibbons to email Partnership regarding Alert Card Scheme
Agenda Item 3: All-Age Autism Strategy Oversight group Update
3.1 Overview of Year One Plan:
Melissa and Karen provided an update on the Norfolk All Age Autism Strategy’s Year One Plan. The plan
was co-produced by the Strategy Oversight Group, and outlines actions to address the 6 key priorities of
the strategy.
Key Features of the Year One Plan:
- Plain English formatting
- Re-designed the template to make it more accessible
- advised on how to present the information (such as future plans)
3.2 Recommendations and Concerns:
Actions to Celebrate:
- Free autism e-learning and developing training for leisure and social groups
- Developing the autism directory
- Working with local employers to find autistic people jobs
- Beginning to address the Board’s priorities regarding diagnosis and mental health
- Supporting autistic people in prison and on release
- Recognising wider neurodiversity with some actions reflecting this
Concerns Raised:
- The year one actions for Education do not go far enough
- More actions are needed for the police/courts
3.3 Action taken from feedback:
Ongoing discussions
- Working with Education to build on the actions for Year One
- With Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to build on their actions for Priority 6
3.4 Next steps:
- Norfolk County Council Children’s Services will put forward a representative whose responsibilities include education to attend the Board
- We will continue to build on actions and add these to the Year One Plan
3.5 Autism Strategy Oversight Group
Recommendations:
- Catherine Hankin offered to make contact withother criminal justice system agencies and where appropriate make an introduction for Tracey and Karen, to develop the actions for these areas
- Agree the approach that the group should continue to work with Norfolk County Council Children’s Services and the Police to build on their actions
- Agree that the Year One Plan is made available to the public via the NAPB website
3.6 Karen explained that they are waiting on the ICB to sign off on the plan before it can go live on the NAPB website, Karen asked the Board if they would sign off the plan in principle.
The board agreed to sign off the plan in principle.
Agenda Item 4: Carer’s Strategy
4.1 Overview:
The All-Age Carers Strategy, co-produced with carers and stakeholders, aims to address the needs of carers across Norfolk and Waveney. The key themes in the Carers Engagement Report highlighted key themes such as access to support, mental health and recognition of carers’ rights.
4.2 Recommendations in the report:
- To establish a task and finish group to develop an All Age Carers Strategy underpinned by an
action plan - To develop a set of indicators to facilitate join up across services including those that show
the additional impact of the rising cost of living and the longer-term impact of the pandemic - To identify workstreams for extra research and analysis
- Identifying the support offered by family and community and how this balances with support
services - To embed co-production by supporting Carers to monitor the strategy.
4.3 Focus Areas and recommended actions:
- To identify and raise awareness of all ages of Carers, their rights and their value (including hidden Carers)
- To improve access to good quality information and services including single point of contact
- To recognise and involve Carers as equal partners in the care of those they care for To co-produce services with Carers wherever possible recognising their expertise and ability to influence and shape services that they need and want to support their health and wellbeing
- Recognise the importance of peer support and access to services which enable Carers to have a break from their caring role
- To have a framework and knowledge of commissioned services for all age Carers
- Develop a Carers pathway
For further details on each section refer to Carers Voice presentation
4.4 Sharon and Sophie asked the NAPB whether they would approve the strategy in principle.
The board agreed.
Once the ICB sign the strategy off on the 4th December, the final copy of the strategy will be circulated.
Agenda Item 5 : Break
5.1 A ten-minute break was held
Agenda Item 6 : Diagnosis Waiting List Updates
6.1 Adult Diagnosis (without a Learning Disability)
- Annual average referrals of 71 each month
- Total number of adults waiting 1174
- Average of 18 assessment a month
Waiting period breakdown:
- 0 people waiting longer than 200wks
- 9 waiting between 200-104 weeks
- 585 waiting between 104–52 weeks
- 410 waiting between 52-18 weeks
- 172 Less than 18 weeks
6.2 Adult Diagnosis (without a Learning Disability) Year on Year comparison of demand for assessment
| Average Monthly Referrals | Total Referrals | % change since last year | |
| 2020 | 28 | 339 | N/A |
| 2021 | 49 | 584 | 72% |
| 2022 | 79 | 950 | 63% |
| 2023 | 90 | 1081 | 14% |
| Oct -2023 – 2024 | 71 | 852 | projecting 21% decrease |
6.3 Question: Do you have the figures for how many people are doing right to choose?
Answer: Norfolk County Council doesn’t hold that information but the ICB probably does. Board to ask Caron Ager to share figures for adults seeking right to choose on a quarterly basis.
6.4 Question: Do we know how many autistic people there are in Norfolk?
Answer: It is difficult to get an accurate figure as recording methods for autism throughout Norfolk are not consistent. But the Norfolk All Age Autism Strategy does share some indications highlighting a study by researchers at University College London who suggest that between 1-3% of the population is autistic and when based on Norfolk’s population there could be 27,400 autistic people living in Norfolk.
Agenda Item 7 : Any other business
7.1 Start time:
Can the NAPB meetings start time change to after one o’clock?
Lee Gibbons will issue a poll to Board members to identify time preferences.
7.2 Membership Review:
Lee Gibbons noted ongoing efforts to review and streamline NAPB membership, ensuring better
attendance and representation.
Date, time and location of next meeting
Tuesday 28th January 2025 11:00-13:00 (Microsoft Teams)