The University of Kent, University of East Anglia, University College London, Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Leicester Partnership NHS Trust and Partnerships in Care have been awarded funding from the National Institute of Health Research to conduct a three year project called the mATCH study.
Within the mATCH study researchers want to understand what is happening to people with autism who are detained in hospitals so the care pathways can be improved. To read more details please see the new webpage: https://research.kent.ac.uk/match/about-us-2/
Some people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act (2007) because of mental health problems, behavioural problems and risk. While all these patients have a diagnosis of ASD, their clinical presentations, risk behaviours, treatment needs and responses to treatment are very different. An inability to capture these differences adequately means that some patients stay in restrictive hospital settings for longer than needed. To minimise this risk and improve care, we need to tailor the care pathway to the needs of each individual patient. The current study aims to do this in two ways (1) systematically investigate a subtypology of people with ASD within psychiatric hospitals to examine whether this may help allocate people to receive the appropriate care, and (2) collect information over 1 year which can be used to improve their care pathway. The study will help to design better inpatient services and directly benefit patients by minimising the risk of them being in restrictive hospital settings for longer than necessary. People with ASD, carers and family members have been asked to take part in this and share in the oversight of our research.