Agenda item

16.1     The Board considered a report on the Sussex Learning from Lives and Deaths (LeDeR) Annual Report for 2022/23. Naomi Ellis, Director of Safeguarding and Clinical Standards at NHS Sussex introduced and gave a summary of the annual report.

16.2     Mark Stainton commented that there is an overlap between this report and the Safeguarding Adults report and the issues of mental capacity that should be considered by all practitioners. He welcomed the continued awareness raising for referrals of people who are autistic and made a request for some place-based information in future reports which would be of interest to those who operate at a place level (e.g. East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton and Hove) such as Health and Care Boards. Naomis Ellis responded that place-based information is available and can provide it for the three areas, as well as including it in next years annual report.

16.3     Councillor Webb commented on the positive outcomes contained in the report and noted that some of the themes for improvement appear to cover things that have been an issue over a number of years.

16.4     Darrell Gale, Director of Public Health, outlined that both the LeDeR process and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy talk about people with autism, whereas the East Sussex Suicide Prevention Strategy talks about neurodivergent people which is a wider cohort of people. The LeDeR process will only pick up those people with an autism diagnosis and would not cover those people waiting for an assessment or diagnosis. The Public Health Team would like to work with the LeDeR team to ensure the same quality of data is included in the East Sussex Suicide Prevention Strategy for those people whose deaths are covered by the wider neurodivergent definition.

16.5     Naomis Ellis acknowledged that the LeDeR process uses a narrower definition and anticipated that the number of referrals in the LeDeR report for people with an autism diagnosis will probably increase, as more assessments are completed for people on waiting lists. She outlined that the LeDeR team is happy to link in with the work on suicide prevention and the Public Health Team.

16.6 The Board asked whether practitioners, when carrying out assessments, understand the diversity of capacity that people with autism and those with learning disabilities have to engage with and understand their health issues.

16.7     Naomis Ellis responded that mental capacity and the Mental Capacity Act is something that the LeDeR team need to look at through Safeguarding Adults and how it applies to transitions for 16 and 17 year olds as highlighted in the SAB Annual report. It is important that mental capacity issues are addressed for people with autism and those with learning disabilities. NHS Sussex do hold awareness weeks and bespoke training sessions for professionals to convey the diverse threshold of understanding that exists. As well as bespoke training, bite size training and specific leaflets are also available for professionals.

16.8     The Board RESOLVED to note the Sussex Learning from Lives and Deaths Annual Report 2022/23.