The Whittington Hospital
As part of a long-standing partnership with The Whittington Health NHS Trust, our young people have worked on several projects to ensure that the hospital and community health services are accessible and inclusive of autistic young people needs.
We have consulted with staff across the trust, local parents and medical students to improve the accessibility of the paediatric inpatient, outpatients and emergency services.
The project has resulted in:
- an audit of the paediatric ward and young people's recommendations being put in place
- ward specific visual stories which can be adapted by parents/carers
- a template for future wards and services to create their own visual stories
- a one-page hospital passport for young people
- a longer hospital passport for patients with longer hospital stays, more complex needs and to encompass all of someone's needs into one document
- posters displayed around Whittington Health Trust to increase staff awareness and improve practice
- an Autism Awareness Day (1 April 2019) with Whittington Trust staff to increase awareness of autism and help them improve their practice with autistic patients
- a webpage on The Whittington Health Trust website containing all information for patients with a learning disability and/or autism.
Improving access to and experiences of healthcare for autistic patients
The Health Foundation funded this project to expand on the aims from working in partnership with The Whittington Health NHS Trust.
The project was led by ten autistic young people from across North London, all of whom have a connection with Whittington Health NHS Trust. All had an interest in improving experiences of healthcare for other young people like themselves. For more information, please read this summary.
Following the success of co-production seen throughout these projects in health, Ambitious About Autism will continue to encourage healthcare professionals to listen to patients’ voices to co-produce useful training and resources.
Interested in commissioning a youth-led consultancy project?
If you or your organisation want to work with the Youth Council on a similar project - to make space more autism-friendly contact the team to find out more.
