Care and Treatment Reviews

We continue to hear about people experiencing poor care and support, being subjected to abusive practice, and dying in hospitals. We believe that wider system change is needed but will take time to implement. Therefore, we will continue to support people’s views and voices to be heard by independent teams until this change takes place.

NDTi has supported involvement in Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews - C(E)TRs - in the South East and South West since they started in 2015. The aim of C(E)TRs is to reduce the risk of a person’s admission to hospital or to facilitate their discharge from hospital. Panel Members include a Clinical Expert and an Expert by Experience, who may be autistic or have learning disabilities themselves or be a family carer. The panel aims to provide constructive challenge to the care a person is receiving. They also hear from the individual and their family (where appropriate) about their experience and hopes for the future.

We believe that the role of Experts by Experience is critical to challenging poor practice and supporting better outcomes for individuals, as well as providing an important safeguard for those in hospital. We believe that the involvement of independent autistic people and people with a learning disability is critical to supporting the views and voices of individuals to be heard.

We play a key role in ensuring that Experts by Experience and Clinical Experts are well trained and supported in their role. Our team is recognised for its expertise and is often approached for specialist support by people from other geographic areas.

As Christianne, an Expert by Experience says ‘Getting people out of hospital is a complex process and CTRs provide the time to identify and challenge the obstacles that are preventing people from living in their own home either now or in the future. They are not the whole answer to the problem, but they are certainly part of the solution.’. Read the full blog here