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conference report
Innovation in hard times

Transferring public property to the community and frustrations
around the Autism Strategy were big topics at the social care
and health commissioners’ conference. Jo Adshead reports

gainst the backdrop of a pending process of assets-based transformation,
general election, the most the assets being those of the people
Auncertain of Brexits and biblical within the community.
flooding in the Midlands, commissioners He persuaded those in power to
who may have felt they had seen it all embrace widespread cultural change and
were not deterred. abandon ingrained ways of working. Key
Around 230 delegates at the National to this was building a new relationship
Commissioning and Contracting Training with the public and working more closely
Conference in Alfreton in Derbyshire with the NHS and the voluntary sector.
discussed how they had sought ever more It was evident that substantial savings
creative solutions to providing for the and improvements had been made while Opening doors: Wigan Council sold public
most vulnerable in our communities. involving patients, service users and buildings at below-market prices to local
At the annual event, held over two communities as active partners rather groups to benefit its most deprived areas
days in November, they could share, than passive recipients of services.
network and showcase their knowledge This is set to include children, develop
and innovation. Autism strategy: progress and priorities clinical guidance for diagnostic services
Trevor Wright was asked to take over as and improve the transition from children’s
Community ownership the statutory Autism Act lead for his local to adult services. The overall aim is to
Keith Cunliffe, cabinet member for adult authority in 2013 and, as a result, improve the understanding of autism and
social care at Wigan Council in Lancashire, discovered that he himself was on the all its profiles.
had the audiences captivated in both a autistic spectrum. Access to justice and mental health care
panel presentation and a workshop. are also priorities. A shocking 75% of
As a local politician, it was his first time autistic adults have reached out for mental
at the conference but he wasted no time “ The record on health services, which are severely lacking.
in airing his view that, in the toughest of progress in improving Wright described the record on progress
times, the need to save money had in improving autism services in the past
brought an opportunity for innovation autism services was 10 years as “pretty damning”. Although
and the direct consequence of being given ‘pretty damning’ “ he acknowledged there were pockets of
flexibility, freedom and the opportunity to good practice, difficulties remained
innovate had mobilised the community. regarding the diagnosis of older people,
Wigan, Cunliffe states, was the third He is now the co-chair of the black and minority ethnic groups, and
worst-hit local authority by austerity. Department of Health and Social Care women and girls. There are often no
Community asset transfers – where autism executive board and headed a pre-diagnosis interventions and a lack of
ownership of public land and buildings Friday afternoon workshop to explore the support for people who have other
from public bodies is passed to progress made over the 10 years since the conditions too, such as obsessive-
community organisations for less than Autism Act came into force. He is well compulsive disorder and attention deficit
market value to achieve a social benefit placed, with his own diagnosis in his late hyperactivity disorder.
– took place in the most deprived of areas 50s explaining his lifelong feelings of He called for the creation of an autism
where people were most socially isolated. difference and the experience of his inclusive society. He said positive
Sunshine House Community Centre in daughter’s autism, to understand the behaviour management needed to be
Scholes was adapted to enable a man effectiveness of the act. understood from the perspective of the
with a physical disability to run a floristry Since the act came in, the executive individual understanding their own
course and coffee mornings, thereby board has gone through six ministers and behaviours and triggers, not focusing on
managing his isolation by enabling him the autism self-assessment framework restraint. More support for high-
to share his strengths with others. has been the only mechanism for functioning people and for parents and
Allotment projects were transformed into checking if the act has been effective. siblings was needed, he added, as well as
dementia day care and provided More positively, Wright reported, autism a workforce with the required level of
meaningful occupation for learning is the only life-long condition with a knowledge and skills.
disabled adults, with only £25,000 of statutory strategy. ● Other presentations from the day can
funding to build a cabin. Frustratingly, the December general be found at: www.ncctc.co.uk/
Wigan’s next challenge was to scale up election delayed the publication of the presentations/navigate/567/412 Rept0n1x/Wikimedia Commons
the operation to cover the whole of the revised strategy. Purdah aside, he was
borough. Cunliffe, whose background is in able to share some elements of the Jo Adshead is the chief executive of
mental health, described the major 2019 review. Linkability: www.linkability.org.uk

26 Vol 33 No 3 | Spring 2020 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk