Continuing community support provision

There will be a continuing need, which must be met, for new and ongoing community-based support for young people and adults with learning disabilities and autistic people whose families become unable to cope full time. This means there is a continuing need for a range of types of provision and well-coordinated support services in addition to the usual community learning disability team. These will include intensive support teams, community forensic teams, assessment and treatment services in the community, and emergency respite services. The availability of these must be monitored and published on the DoH website. These teams and services, some of which exist in parts of Northern Ireland but not all, need to have open referral systems, so that families can self-refer.