Autism Resource :: Hampshire Hospitals Trustnet

How can this page help?

This page aims to provide advice, guidance and signposting to support staff to use and develop best practice in supporting autistic patients accessing Hampshire Hospitals' services.

This will include tips on communication, reasonable adjustments and passports.

Please feel free to reach out with any practice related queries.

Please also provide any constructive feedback on the page contents.

Please click on the image below which will take you to a Microsoft Form, and apply to attend the Inclusion Day on the 19th September 2025.

What is Autism?

Please watch the below video.

What is Autism - UK (National Autistic Society) 2:42

Please also see below infographics.

What is autism and what is it not What people thing autism is and what it actually is infographic Autism spectrum is not linear

Co-existing or co-occurring conditions with autism

Please see the below link for information about other conditions or co-existing, co-occuring conditions that may impact on autistic people

NHS - Co-occurring conditions

The 4 Ds Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia

Ehlers Danlos Syndromes - NHS

Functional Neurological Disorder Explained Clearly (credit Rhesus Medicine)

What other conditions may be associated. NICE (revised April 2025)

What challenges can be faced by autistic people?

Young people explain autistic shutdown

14 triggers of autistic meltdowns

What are Reasonable Adjustments?

Please see the links below for helpful information

The 4 Ps Reasonable Adjustments Model 4P's of RA

National Autistic Society Reasonable Adjustments

Under the Equality Act (2010), services must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

Reasonable adjustments mean making changes to services and the way we work with individuals so that these services are accessible.

We need to consider what reasonable adjustments a person may require. Examples of areas for reasonable adjustments include, but are not restricted to;

Establishing communication preferences and needs
Support prior to an appointment or ward round to think of questions, then support during to ensure understanding and recall and the opportunity to ask questions.
Using virtual systems such as Teams for appointments
Information in manageable chunks
Information in different formats
More time to process information
Advocacy

Making reasonable adjustments for patients with a learning disability is G.R.E.A.T. Patient Learning Hub

GREAT Infographic for RA

Extranet AccessAble pages

HHFT has linked with AccessAble to provide visual resources to share with patients, relatives and carers about how to access HHFT site and services.

Mental capacity and executive function

Executive Function and the Mental Capacity Act (Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Board)

The Hampshire Safeguarding Adults Board provide lunch and learns and Training resources. The above link is to a very compact powerpoint on the impact of executive function on mental capacity in relation to conducting a mental capacity assessment.

Executive functioning tips for Neurodiversity (credit Professor Amanda Kirby)

Learning Disability and Autism Programme (LDAP)

The purpose of the team is to make health and social care services better so that people of all ages with a learning diability and/or autism can live in the community with the right support and close to home.

Please send completed referral forms to LDAP Duty inbox link hiowicb-hsi-aacc.ldap@nhs.net

Dynamic Support Register (DSR)

The DSR is a mechanism to ensure that health, social and education professionals are aware of any adult or child/young person with a diagnosed learning disability and/or autism who is considered to be at actual or potential risk of admission to a mental health hospital.

In the first instance a referral to the register is made by the responsible clinicain (ideally a Care Coordinator or allocated Social Worker for the person) after a discussion with the person and consent to the referral be sought from the person or their representative for the referral. The case will be risk assessed and a decision made if a C(E)TR or LAEP will be appropriate to avoid hospital admission where possible.

Care (Education) and Treatment Review (C(E)TR)

C(E)TR is a review of a person's current care, education (education is in brackets as s not always age appropriate) and treatment being received involving an independent panel which includes a clinical reviewer and expert by experience.

All children/young people with autism and/or a learning disability are required to have a community C(E)TR if they have been admitted or are considered to be at risk of being admitted to a mental health hospital.

Local Area Emergency Protocol meeting (LAEP)

LAEP meetings are required where an admission is unplanned, urgent or if someone is in crisis.

It is best practice to ensure that the Approved Mental Health Professional is invited to the LEAP and that the LAEP is convened PRIOR to the Mental Health Act Assessment is performed.

The aim of a LAEP is to prevent people with learning disabilites and/or autism being admitted unnecessarily to a mental health hospital.

It can also identify barriers to a person being supported to remain in the community and recomend how to overcome these barriers.

The LAEP will look to identify any unmet need

A HEALTH need = discuss with ICB (DSR/CETR Team), can the service be independently commissioned

A SOCIAL need = discuss with social care lead

An EDUCATIONAL need = discuss with Special Educational Needs Team (SEN)

Please contact the Duty Inbox (see link above) or myself for access to the referral forms and for support.

Sensory Sensitivities

Autistic people may experience sensory differences. If you are autistic, you may be over-sensitive or under-sensitive to specific sights, sounds, smells or textures. This can be a positive thing, but can also cause distress or discomfort.

In the below link the National Autistic Society looks at some examples of sensory differences, hear autistic people's experiences, and offer strategies to help.

Sensory differences - a guide for all audiences

A 2 minute Video - Make it stop - sensory overwhelm from a young persons point of view

A 3 minute video - A journey through Alder Hayes Hospital

Communication Tips

Communication can be difficult for some autistic people. Social cues can be confusing, they may struggle to initiate interactions or respond to communication from or by others. Process time for information can be impacted so an autistic person may need more time to consider and to respond to a conversation.

Please access the links below for more information.

Video (2:19) Beyond Autism - Autism and Communication

Respectful communication tips reframing autism

Ambitious About Autism Top Tips for Communicating with Autistic People

how-we-talk-about-autism-900x500

Passports

Top Tips

It may be that the person comes into hospital with a passport or a profile already completed. If this is the case it is important to sit down with the person to review the information together.

If the person does not already have a passport or profile that works for them then below I have shared some versions to try.

Co-production is vital for these documents to be meaningful and valid.

Health Passport 'National Autistic Society' mainly used for inpatient settings but can also be used for other services. This document includes information about activities of daily living as well as other support and deescalation information.

Neuro-inclusive Passport (credit Oxford NHS Trust) This document supports the person to share what will support them before, during and after an out patients appointment. The person may feel the information included is transferrable into an inpatient stay.

Ambitious About Autism One Page Profile page One Page Profiles can be a relatively quick and informative guide for a patient to be supported to produce. This can include the key information about the person and their needs. This template can also be used by staff to share information about their role and functions and likley tasks to support an autisitc person to adequately prepare for an hospital visit or healthcare interaction.

Hospital Passport (credit Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust)

Communication Handbook (credit Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust)

Question prompt for appointments (credit UHS) This is helpful to support an autisitic person to think in advance about any questions they may need to ask ahead of the appointment.