People with autism will now be specifically included in an improved and expanded LeDeR programme to drive improvements in care, the NHS announced on March 24.
The move is part of changes to the learning from life and death reviews programme (LeDeR) which aims to make improvements to the lives of people with a learning disability.
The NHS has worked with stakeholders including bereaved families, people with a learning disability and autistic people over the past 12 months to develop the new policy which will focus not only on completing reviews but on ensuring that local health and social care systems implement actions at a local level to improve and save lives.
The new policy, which looks at the life of a person as well as their death, will also now extend to include all people who are autistic – who do not have learning disability – as well.
All notifications of a person’s death will receive an initial review by the local LeDeR team, which will include talking to their family, their GP or look at the records, and at least one other person involved in the person’s care. If a reviewer feels a more detailed review is needed, a focussed review will follow.
All eligible people from an ethnic minority background will receive a focussed review and the families of anyone aged four and over with a learning disability or autism can request one.
A new web platform will be launched in late Spring to streamline reviews, improve their quality and facilitate access to records as well as improving reviewer training.
From September LeDeR will be incorporated into the routine quality reporting arrangements of the ICS and not sit separately from it, to improve learning and action locally.
