An Evaluation of Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews for People With Learning Disabilities and Autistic People

Aims In this research project, we will determine whether Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews are helpful for people with learning disabilities and autistic people and their families. Background Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews were started in 2014 to help get autistic people and people with learning disabilities out of psychiatric hospitals and to prevent their admission to psychiatric hospitals. Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews involve an independent panel including an Expert by Experience, a clinician, and a commissioner who is responsible for paying for an individual's care. The autistic person or the person with learning disability and their family also attend the meeting. The focus of a Care (Education) and Treatment Review is to either prevent a person from being admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the first place, or to help someone who is already in hospital, get out. They do this by trying to work out ways to overcome barriers that might be stopping someone from leaving hospital. However, we do not know if Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews stop people from being admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the first place, or help people already in hospital get out. Method Our project has four stages. In Stage 1 we will work with the members of our Lived Experience Advisory Panels to co-produce survey questions. We will design surveys for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, families and carers, Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews panel members, and health and social care professionals to complete. We will share these surveys with as many people as we can nationally. We will make adjustments so that people with learning disabilities can take part in our surveys. We know that individuals with moderate to severe learning disabilities and younger children will not be able to complete the surveys and so we will use other ways to gather their views and experiences. We will also try to work out how much it costs to have a Car