Note - this is not an NHS England produced presentation.

1. AUTISM INCLUDED hosted by
Autism Event for the North East & Cumbria
11th December 2015
Event headlines & feedback
85 people plus speakers attended the day. 12 of the 13 Local Authority areas were
represented (Cumbria was unable come due the flooding problem they had at that time) –
a mix of people with Autism, family members & health & social care professionals.
What people said is going well
There was a lot of diversity in what people said they were pleased about and some
consistency on:
- Different housing & support models
- Some examples of collaborative pieces of work across services & with people
What people said are challenges or need to get better
There was much more consistency in this from people at the event.
They want to improve:
- Collaboration & joint working – this is across the local authority and NHS services
as well as with people with autism, their family members and the community and
voluntary sector providers
- Autism awareness training and the need for a coordinated approach to the design
and delivery (involving people with autism as co-trainers)
- Community based and autism specific support for people post diagnosis especially
those who are not learning disabled
We asked about Burning issues & people’s greatest concerns were:
- The lack of peer support, autism advocacy & other low level support (such as
talking therapies) which maintain good mental health and reduce social isolation
- Ensuring joint working across services & areas
- coproduction with people on the spectrum & families as appropriate
- Support to get a job
- Understanding the impact & effectiveness of the autism training there has been to
date – is anyone doing that?
Next steps together
We asked if those there would like to continue to connect & if they did how & around what:
There was overwhelming positive feedback for a North East & Cumbria system of
communication with many practical suggestions about how this would work in practice.
There was particular interest in making good use of technology. We are proposing a follow
on half-day workshop around March 2016 to take the ideas forward from the event.

2. AUTISM INCLUDED hosted by
Our learning & reflections from us as partners
What we think went well
Working together as 3 partners – different skills, connections & knowledge
Majority of presentation slots being co- delivered by people with Autism & without
The energy & interest of those there – presenters & attendees
What we think could have been better
We worked people hard & crammed a lot into the agenda
Letting so many people attend meant we overspent on the catering budget
We didn’t get the follow up out before Christmas & that got in the way