Working with Welsh Government’s neurodivergence and learning disabilities team, we ran a 12-week discovery exploring how to support those awaiting a neurodivergence referral or assessment.
There are currently extensive waiting times for individuals awaiting assessments for suspected neurodivergent conditions and gaps have been identified in the level of support and information that they receive while awaiting their assessment.
Based on our map of the existing service, we identified 3 user groups for our research which included:
- professionals who are part of the neurodivergent referrals and assessment service
- parents or guardians of neurodivergent young people and children
- neurodivergent adults
Impact
It's too early to see some of the impact as the discovery has just come to an end, but it helped gather significant evidence that a digital product that gathers information could provide a set of solutions to help those awaiting a neurodivergent referral or assessment get the information and support they need.
Recommendations
Our primary recommendation is to run an alpha (trying different solutions to the problem we identified during the discovery phase) on digital information gathering which would:
- test the riskiest assumptions of this approach
- understand the more detailed user needs and define the requirements of a minimum viable product
- explore different solutions to these requirements, including how to ensure the product is accessible and bilingual
- explore and understand the challenges around information governance, information sharing permissions and consent
- identify the best route for implementing the product, for example, whether to build it, buy it, or a hybrid of the two, in which you would work with a supplier to modify the existing product
- better understand the consequences of embedding this product into the wider service, and how to ensure it contributes to making the overall service more joined-up
- consider how to support those that will find it harder to access or complete information gathering digitally
Our secondary recommendation is to run an alpha on a centralised resources and support repository.
A centralised resource and support repository requires either the user or a professional supporting them to understand their own needs and signposting them to the information they need. Parents and adults we spoke to perceive provision or signposting to be non-existent – all described resorting to finding their own resources and support and finding this challenging. This indicates a gap in awareness of what is available, as well as a lack of consistent signposting by the professionals that neurodivergent people meet with.
We recommend running an alpha to:
- test the value of this concept as well as the riskiest assumptions
- explore sourcing and validating bilingual content in a range of accessible formats
- explore horizon-scanning for new content and keeping existing content updated
- explore maintaining national and local support directories
- explore a model that involves cataloguing and directing users to existing quality online resources, avoiding replication, alongside content created or co-produced by neurodivergent services
We also recommend further research into digital profiling products. Digital profiling products may offer a solution to this and may play a role in reducing demand for assessments. However, we only gathered limited insight into this concept during discovery. We recommend further research is carried out to better inform this concept.
Hear from Sian, Neurodivergence Programme Manager, and Einir, Senior Neurodivergence Manager, at Welsh Government who discuss what’s been achieved so far on this project:
How has working in an Agile way helped this project?
What are you most proud of about what’s been achieved?
What were the benefits of working with CDPS?
Next steps
Our discovery report and recommendations have been shared with the Welsh Government’s neurodivergence and learning disabilities team. CDPS will meet with the team to discuss how we could provide future support depending on what recommendations they take forward.
How it meets our objectives
CDPS’s objectives:
Objective 1: Supporting the leadership and culture amongst public service leaders to drive good digital policy making and support digital transformation.
Objective 2: Support others to ensure that people can access digital public services by helping them create services that are designed around user needs.
Objective 5: Continuing to promote shared use of the technologies and create and embed common and shared standards in digital, data and technology.
The Five Ways of Working – Well-being of Future Generations Act
- Long-term
- Integration
- Involvement
- Collaboration
- Prevention
7 well-being goals – Well-being of Future Generations Act
- A healthier Wales
- A more equal Wales
- A Wales of more cohesive communities
- A globally responsible Wales