Meet Lauren, our Autism Nurse Specialist | News
Meet Lauren, our Autism Nurse Specialist
To tie in with World Autism Acceptance Month in April, we are taking a peek into the role of Royal Surrey's Learning Disability and Autism Nurse Specialist, Lauren Bowller.
Royal Surrey is one of just two hospitals in the Surrey area to have an Autism Nurse Specialist available for patients. Set up to help tackle the health inequalities that autistic people face when coming into hospital, Lauren’s work is about supporting adult patients who are accessing our health services.
When patients are booked in for a planned procedure, Lauren will contact the patient and their family or carers beforehand to discuss the adjustments or additional support that might be needed, and then talk to the clinical teams involved in the patient’s care.
If a patient is admitted to a ward, Lauren will visit them to discuss extra support or help that they might need.
Lauren said: “Autistic people often struggle to access hospital services for many reasons, perhaps because of communication barriers and/or specific sensory needs. The trust has a responsibility to adjust the care provided to meet each individual’s needs and act as an advocate for them in relation to clinicians."
Lauren’s role at the trust is also focused on delivering educational sessions and training colleagues to develop their understanding and awareness of autism and provide practical support and advice to staff to help them meet their patients’ needs.
Lauren added: “We always encourage our autistic patients to have a health passport, which they bring into hospital with them. A health passport can be downloaded from the National Autistic Society website and will give us useful insights and information to help us care for our patients more effectively. The health passport can be uploaded onto the patient’s electronic record.”
If you would like to find out more about accessing help as a patient, or for training and advice as a staff member, please email rsch.adultlearningdisabilitiesandautism@nhs.net or call 01483 571122 extension 3012, Monday to Friday.