Housing

Brick by brick: Resources to support mental health hospital-to-home discharge planning for autistic people and people with a learning disability

NHS England’s Learning Disability and Autism programme team has been working with the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (HACT) to develop a flexible set of hospital to home discharge resources, intended to be adapted to suit local needs and circumstances.

Local partners in integrated care systems should use these resources to work together to make sure that planning for people’s future housing needs starts as early as possible after admission to hospital, and is undertaken in a fully joined-up way: in close co-production with the person and any family or loved ones.

Three resources have been developed:

  • Resources to support mental health hospital-to-home discharge planning for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
  • A hospital-to-home discharge protocol template: to be used or adapted flexibly by agencies in local areas, to ensure their local hospital discharge processes effectively support autistic people and people with a learning disability who are in mental health hospitals, in being discharged into housing which meets their needs.
  • An individual housing needs assessment form, also provided as a template, to be flexibly used or adapted to align with or strengthen local requirements and processes.

Housing how to guide: Access to high quality housing plays a key role in enabling successful discharges of people from hospital into their own homes

The housing how to guide, published by Learning Disability England, gives people and their families access to information on rights and choices and will help them plan for what kind of housing is right for them and their family.

Building the right home update

Building the Right Home was issued in 2016 by NHS England, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services as part of the Transforming Care Programme. The guidance supports NHS and local authority commissioners to work with housing providers to expand the housing options available for people with a learning disability and autistic people, particularly for those people at risk of admission to a mental health hospital, or ready to leave hospital. The guidance will be reviewed in the course of 2022/23, in the light of current needs and requirements and in line with the work of the ministerially led Building the Right Support Delivery Board.

However, the core values and principles which underpin Building the Right Home remain, with an ongoing commitment to the essential role that bespoke housing options (based on each individual’s needs and preferences) play in enabling people to live healthy and positive lives in the community. It remains available for download for this reason, until the review of the guidance is complete.

We are committed to making sure that people with a learning disability and autistic people have a choice about where they live and who they live with.

When people are not happy about where they live they can be more likely to display behaviours that challenge, which can then lead to them going into hospital.

People with a learning disability and autistic people should:

  • be supported to live in their own home in the community with the right support
  • have a choice about who they live with, and the location and community in which they live.
  • have housing that works for them and meets their needs.
  • be offered settled accommodation, or be able to make use of short-term accommodation and support to enable them to continue living independently in the community
  • be able to stay in their home even if their care and support needs to change
  • feel happy and safe in their home

To do this we know we need to support integrated care systems to work with local housing providers and other stakeholders to develop, remodel and adapt accommodation for people with a learning disability, autism or both.

This will mean that more people can live in their own home and get the support they need to live healthy, safe and rewarding lives.

Our work on housing

  • NHS England has made more than £100 million in capital grants available to support housing delivery, which can be accessed via the housing leads and the regional NHS England teams.
  • Find out more about the application and allocation process for our capital grant.
  • Building the right home was issued in 2016 by NHS England, the LGA and ADASS as part of the Transforming Care Programme. The guidance supports NHS and local authority commissioners to work with housing providers to expand the housing options available for people with a learning disability and autistic people, particularly for those people at risk of admission to a mental health hospital, or ready to leave hospital. The guidance will be reviewed in the course of 2022/23, in the light of current needs and requirements and in line with the work of the Ministerially led Building the Right Support Delivery Board.
  • We have a housing team made up of regional NHS England housing leads who support integrated care systems to plan for housing and access NHS capital grants to support delivery.
  • Guidance for integrated care boards, integrated care systems, local authorities, support, care and housing providers is being developed to explain the process and arrangements for accessing NHS capital grants and legal charges for properties for people with a learning disability and autistic people. While this guidance is being developed, if you would like to find out more, please contact [england.strategiccommissioning@nhs.net] for more information and to arrange a discussion.

Personal stories

  • The Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN) shares personal experiences of people with a learning disability and share their specific accommodation, care and support needs.
  • This case study describes how siblings have been able to move into their own homes thanks to a grant of £12,500 provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The funding meant that high quality bespoke toughened equipment and furniture was installed into the properties so that they could live in independent supported living. The local community learning disability team said it has been a “resounding success and they are thriving in their new home”.
  • This case study describes how Gemma was supported to move into a suitable home. After leaving hospital, Gemma lived in a house where her landlord was going to begin legal action to end the tenancy unless they felt assured that Gemma would be moved to alternative accommodation. Gemma is much happier in her new home and interacting with the community in a more positive way. Staff, family and friends say that Gemma is more positive and is moving forwards much more happily with her life with strong indications of a better future ahead now.
  • This case study describes how Lisa, a 62 year old woman with a mild learning disability, acute transient psychotic disorder and emotionally unstable borderline personality disorder was able to move into the bungalow she wanted.

Find out more

Our national strategy ‘Building the Right Support‘ describes what good services and support looks like for people with a learning disability, autism or both.

The design checklist provides more information about our expectations and the principles that we use to support planning around the design of housing.

Our Futures Platform includes more information on housing for people with a learning disability and/or who are autistic.

If you have any questions or queries, or would like to find out more about our capital grant programme, please contact learning.disability@nhs.net

Contact us

The following is a list of regional and national housing leads on the learning disability and autism programme.