New self assessment forms are a Push for Action victory

The release of the Department of Health’s new self assessment form – which monitors local authorities’ progress against the autism strategy – has seen a significant victory for The NAS' Push for Action campaign. There’s been a win for our Getting On? campaign on autism in older age, too.
 
We have been working with the Department of Health on drawing up the questions for the new self-assessment exercise and on ensuring the new framework uses clearly defined ratings. This is so we can clearly see the progress each local authority has made against the strategy and compare their progress. 

Previously, self-assessment forms made it difficult to compare local authorities’ progress and some local authorities did not fill in the form.
 
In a victory for the Push for Action campaign, the new self-assessment form includes clear scoring systems and the Minister of State for Care and Support, Norman Lamb, has written to all local authorities explaining that they must complete the form.
 
The self-assessment form also asks local authorities whether they are considering the needs of older people with autism. This is significant step for The NAS’ Getting On? campaign which is pushing for the needs of older people with autism to be considered and met.