Mental health services and healthcare for autistic people – experts to give evidence to Lords committee
Friday 28 March 2025
On Monday 31 March the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Committee will be hearing evidence from two panels of experts as part of its inquiry into the Act. The first session will focus on mental health services for autistic people. The second session will focus on healthcare.
Giving evidence at 14:45 will be:
- Dr Sarah Cassidy, Associate Professor in Psychology, Nottingham University
- Tom Purser, CEO, Autism Action
- Professor Ailsa Russell, University of Bath
Questions the committee is likely to ask include:
- What is the evidence on the prevalence of mental ill health among autistic people (in all demographic groups), compared to the general population and to people with other disabilities?
- What has been the influence of the Autism Act 2009, the statutory guidance and successive Government autism strategies in improving access to mental health care for autistic people?
- How well do primary and community mental health services identify and address autistic people’s needs? What would be the best ways to improve this?
- How effectively do acute mental health services and hospitals identify and address autistic people’s needs? What would be the best ways to improve this?
- How effective are common mental health interventions for autistic people? How could they be improved?
- To what extent do mental health services learn from autistic people’s experiences and from any failures to meet autistic people’s needs? How could this be improved?
Giving evidence at 15:50 will be:
- Dr Mary Doherty, Autistic Doctors International
- Professor Jeremy Parr, Professor of Paediatric Neurodisability, Newcastle University
- Professor André Strydom, Chief Investigator, Learning from Lives and Deaths Review; and Professor in Intellectual Disabilities, King’s College London
Questions the committee is likely to ask include:
- What are the main inequalities in health outcomes for autistic people, (including autistic people with co-occurring conditions)?
- What has been the influence of the Autism Act 2009, the statutory guidance and successive Government autism strategies in improving access to healthcare for autistic people?
- How accessible are healthcare settings for autistic people? How could this be improved?
- How well do health services identify and make adjustments for autistic people? How could this be improved?
- How do barriers to communication between autistic people and healthcare professionals affect autistic people’s health outcomes? How can those barriers be reduced?
- To what extent do healthcare services learn from autistic people’s experiences and from any failures to meet autistic people’s needs? How could this be improved?
The sessions can be followed live on Parliament TV from 14:45 on Monday 31 March 2025.
