Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to make provision for neurodivergent adults to receive advocate support to (a) access health care and (b) attend health appointments.

We want all neurodivergent adults to be able to access health care when they need it. Advocates can play a crucial role in making sure people’s views are listened to, and that their rights are upheld. The Department and NHS England invested £4.5 million in 2021/22 to carry out a review of advocacy for people with a learning disability and autism in a mental health inpatient setting and to support a number of advocacy pilots and an evaluation of the most effective ways of working. A report on the findings of the advocacy review outlining recommendations will be published in due course.

Health services should make reasonable adjustments to care for people who have a disability in line with the Equality Act 2010. NHS England are developing a Reasonable Adjustments Digital Flag which will show on a person’s health record that they may need reasonable adjustments. Reasonable adjustments can include allowing for advocate support to assist with accessing health care and attending health appointments.

From 1 July 2022, the Health and Care Act 2022 requires Care Quality Commission registered providers to ensure their staff receive specific training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. We are rolling out the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism to support this. This training will help to ensure that staff have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe and compassionate care, including how to provide reasonable adjustments, for autistic people, which will play an important role in tackling health and care inequalities.