§ Mr. Soleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what advice is given to general practitioners, hospital doctors and school doctors as to the extent and character of links between retardation and autism;
(2) what information he has as to the guidelines used by the teaching hospitals for training doctors on the detection and diagnosis of autism.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe content of medical education and training is the responsibility of the professional bodies concerned. Keeping abreast of medical literature is a matter for doctors themselves. The advice on people with autism issued* by my Department is addressed to regional and district health authorities and is that such people should be identified and provision made for meeting their particular needs; that a range of services will be needed, taking account of the severity of features which are characteristic of autism, and also of the severity, or absence, of intellectual impairment, and other features; that authorities' plans should include provision for regular in-service education and training for staff to provide basic knowledge about this group, as well as about mentally handicapped people with other special needs; and that these are among the issues to which regions and districts 356W need to address themselves in their strategic and operational plans, and which will need to be considered in the regional review process.
* Policy paper "Mental Handicap: Policies and Priorities" at annex 2 of the Government response to the report from the Social Services Committee on community care, Cmnd. 9674 1985.