Children and young people with a learning disability, autism or both are being supported to stay out of hospital thanks to a new way of working by a Transforming Care Partnership (TCP) in Bristol.

The Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire TCP work together with colleagues in social care and child and adolescent mental health services. They highlight if someone might need extra support by looking at a list of ‘risk factors’ and rating each child or young person with a red, amber or green rating.

The risk factors used for children and young people are different to the ones that are used for adults as they particularly reflect the role of education. For some young people problems can begin when they are excluded or on the verge of being excluded from school.

One young person who benefitted from the new system is Oliver. Oliver, who is autistic, stopped going to school and also refused to leave the house.

Oliver’s social worker was concerned and raised his case at Bristol’s Complex Needs Group. By looking at their risk factors for children and young people, they could see Oliver needed extra help and he was referred to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) as a priority.

Oliver was seen quickly which meant he didn’t get worse and didn’t need to go into hospital. With help and support he’s getting better at home, and hopes to be able to go back to school soon.

Jane Guvenir, from Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group says: “This new way of working has made us focus on this group of young people and should help us identify them more easily so we can intervene much earlier.”

For more information contact: jane.guvenir@bristol.gov.uk