Championing autism
The Championing Autism campaign led by the RCPsych Autism Champion Ian Davidson started in October 2016 as a pilot with pump priming funding from DHSC through to March 2017.
The College decided to continue the programme and council in July 2017 authorised it to run to July 2020. It has now been extended again, and Dr Conor Davidson took over as Autism Champion in May 2021.
- audit the autism continuing professional development (CPD) needs of all psychiatrists in practice in England;
- update and scale up the existing CPD autism training programme to meet identified CPD needs;
- develop and implement models of best practice in support and selective referral to local specialist autism teams and
- develop and implement a patient (individual) level best practice commissioning manual for joint working with health (NHS England) and local NHS social care commissioners.
- timely ASD diagnosis and appropriate services to refer to;
- autism friendly mental health services;
- reduced stress and anxiety – not only for those with ASD, but also for families, carers, social workers, GPs and psychiatrists;
- improved health outcomes with equitable access to the NHS;
- a reduction in wasted resources by earlier recognition and less crisis management.
Understanding psychiatrists' knowledge, attitudes and experiences in identifying and supporting their patients on the autism spectrum: online survey
- RCPsych Neurodevelopmental SIG for national launch day and regional events were hosted by Devon Partnership Trust,
- Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT,
- NTW (Newcastle Tyne and Wear) NHS FT, combined North Central London (Camden & Islington and Barnet, Haringey & Enfield NHS FTs),
- Worcestershire Health and Social Care Trust.
- The Autism Champion is now part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism (APPGA) advisory group and attended the inquiry session as a witness at the session on support for Autistic adults in May 2019.
- Presentation of the programme at various annual faculty meetings in 2017 and to the Northern Ireland Division
- Participation in 'Autism and Mental Health' and 'Autism and Ageing' workshops
- Revision of RCPsych guidance - CR175 and CR191
- Discussion of ways to include Autism in the College Curriculum and to support CPD needs of psychiatrists regarding Autism
- Contributed to discussions on the reform of the Mental Health Act and the NHS Long Term plan
- Worked with NHSE and NHSI to ensure that approaches to Autism are Autism focussed (not tacked on to discussions about Learning Disabilities or Mental Health) whilst at the same time advocating that those Autistic people who have a co-occurring Learning Disability or Mental Health problems
In 2017, agreement was reached between Health Education England and RCPsych Neurodevelopmental SIG to run a small number of training days for psychiatrists in different parts of England. The days are called 'Autism essential for Psychiatrists' and take participants beyond Autism awareness training.
These will therefore benefit the participants but also through evaluation and feedback will help Health Education England and RCPsych in shaping future approaches to training on Autism. There are 6 in total with the aim being to reach a total of 200 psychiatrists attending across the 6 venues.