South West Learning Disability and Autism Programme Bulletin
Welcome and foreword
Welcome to our latest South West Learning Disability and Autism Programme Bulletin. I wanted to kick-off with a thank you for everything you are doing, and I hope you had a wholesome, long, Easter weekend. The pressure continues, but so do you all with sheer determination and commendable professionalism. We can all do something to help reduce health inequalities for people, and I urge you to think about the part you play in driving equity.
One way we can do this is to keep working towards implementing the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag (RADF). Health and social care provider services must make it as easy for disabled people to use services as it is for people who are not disabled. Find out more about the RADF, the new checklist (released today) to aid compliance, and the accompanying good practice resource package in this bulletin.
It's World Autism Acceptance Week (2-8 April 2024) – is your organisation, or the part of the system you are working in, doing anything to raise awareness about autism, and/or advocate for the rights of people with autism?
Autistic people face discrimination and barriers across all sectors of society – in the health and social care systems, in education, in employment, and everywhere in between. It is crucial that autistic people, and their families and carers, can access tailored information, guidance, and support to overcome those barriers.
Join the conversation – keep an eye on X and Facebook as there is a lot of great content you can engage with and share throughout the week.
Graham Carr, Head of Programme for the Learning Disability & Autism Programme
The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag Action Checklist: What you need to do to achieve compliance
We are in phase one of preparing for full implementation of the RADF and need organisations to prepare to conform to requirements of phase one from no later than April 2024.
To support this we have developed a checklist, so organisations can ensure that processes are in place to identify, record, flag, share, meet and review and update reasonable adjustment needs on their own systems and records. There is also an accompanying good practice resource package.
The RADF Information Standard mandate applies to all health and publicly funded social care. It applies across NHS and independent providers, social care (as providers) as well as independent contractors such as GPs and dentists. It also impacts all health and care IT system suppliers.
Additional information:
Reasonable adjustments are a legal requirement to make sure health services are accessible to all disabled people. The reasonable adjustments section of the LeDeR resource bank has a range of material to help you help the people you care for.
An Information Standard Notice (ISN) released in September 2023 (Reasonable adjustments impairment and adjustment codes - NHS Digital) explains the expectation of all health care providers in the implementation of this process.
If you are a health or social care professional, please sign up to the Reasonable Adjustment Flag workspace on FutureNHS to get latest updates from NHS England and partners.