Stopped Ms L’s autism assessment
16. Before we decide if we should do a detailed investigation of a complaint, we look at whether there are signs the organisation has got something wrong. We do this by comparing what should have happened with what did happen. We have done this and have not found any signs that something has gone wrong.
17. The NICE guidance says an autism assessment should start within three months of a referral and be done by a team of people who are specialists in autism.
18. It says the assessment includes ‘collecting information to help the assessment’ from the school, doctor or social worker. During the assessment the autism team will talk to the young person and family to help them get to know the young person.
19. It says they might also need to come and see how the young person gets on at school or at home and arrange other assessments. This information will help them work out how best to help the young person and plan what support the young person and their family need.
20. The Trust started the assessment within three months of receiving Ms L’s referral in January 2020. It completed some initial activity with Ms L’s family and her school. In March 2020 the family completed questionnaires. The Trust said further assessment was needed and it sent questionnaires to the family and Ms L’s school to complete in April 2020.
21. COVID-19 lockdown began in March 2020 and many schools were closed. The Trust explained to Mr L it was unable to arrange any face-to-face assessments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It said it planned to restart the assessment process at the first available opportunity and would contact Mr A with further information as soon as it could.
22. The Trust continued with non-face-to-face parts of the process during summer 2020.
23. On 9 October 2020 the Trust emailed Mr A confirming Ms L was still on the assessment pathway. It explained it had done as much possible up to the pandemic restrictions. It confirmed the next stage of the assessment process was to complete the observations. The Trust told Mr A this would be a face-to-face appointment and could not be completed if either child or examiner had to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). The Trust told Mr A once restrictions allowed it to safely offer this assessment then it would contact him to arrange an appointment.
24. The Trust wrote to the parents on 12 October 2020, saying Ms L was still on the assessment pathway. In October Mr A changed his GP practice. The new practice wrote to the Trust on 29 October for the transfer of Ms L’s care to another Trust’s service as the family felt that would be helpful. On 16 December the Trust did this and told Mr A of Ms L’s discharge from its service and confirmed it would start the process for transfer of her care.
25. Our Principles say organisations should do what they say they are going to do. In this case, the Trust said it would complete an autism assessment for Ms L.
26. The Trust did that. It started the autism assessment process in line with NICE guidance. The Trust completed all parts of the assessment that it could in the COVID-19 restrictions at that time.
27. The Trust kept Mr A informed between March and October 2020 of the process, telling him Ms L needed a school observation and face-to-face meeting to complete the assessment process.
28. The Trust explained to Mr A it could not complete Ms L’s autism assessment without school observation. It said this could not be done remotely and all young people waiting for this assessment faced these delays due to the pandemic.
29. Mr A complains the Trust stopped Ms L’s autism assessment. We have seen no sign that was the case. It discharged Ms L from its service in December 2020 only after Mr A asked it to transfer Ms L’s care to another Trust. We have seen no sign the Trust would not have completed Ms L’s assessment had Mr A not transferred her care somewhere else. We have seen no signs the Trust did anything wrong. We will take no further action on this.
Stopped the family’s support and would not explain why
30. We have considered these two parts of the complaint together.
31. Our Principles say organisations should behave helpfully. They should treat people with sensitivity. It is worth noting the Trust’s role here was limited to providing an autism assessment for Ms L.
32. In June 2020 the Trust discussed ways to help Mr A with Ms L’s behaviour. It suggested a referral to ‘Early Help’. Mr A confirmed he contacted the service but it could not help. The Trust also reassured Mr A the service would progress Ms L’s assessment and begin part of it over the phone.
33. The Trust emailed Mr A on 21 October 2020 to say he could contact its child and adolescent mental health service clinician whenever the family needed support with Ms L.
34. Mr A says the Trust stopped support for the family. We have seen no sign that was the case. We have seen nothing to suggest the Trust was responsible for providing support beyond the assessment itself. The Trust offered opportunities to contact it if the family needed help with Ms L. In June and July 2020 the Trust gave Mr A details of ’Early Help’, and also offered to refer him directly. Mr A indicated ‘Early Help’ could offer no support but that was not the Trust’s responsibility. We have seen no sign the Trust did not act helpfully or sensitively in line with our Principles. It did not stop the family’s support because it was not providing support. We will take no further action on these complaints.
35. We acknowledge Mr A’s frustration in not being able to speed up Ms L’s assessment. We know this must have been a difficult time for him and his family.