The life-changing impact of a pioneering service to support young people with autism and learning disabilities has been celebrated by Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
The Trust was one of a handful around the country to launch the keyworker pilot service to provide personalised support to young people with learning disabilities and autism who are most at risk of needing hospital care.
Keyworkers play a key advocacy role and support young people and their families to navigate services and systems. Hence, they receive the proper care at the right time to improve their quality of life and reduce the risk of hospital admission or placement breakdown.
The key workers provide holistic, non-clinical support that puts the young person's goals and wishes at the centre of their work.
The pilot debuted in April 2021, and its success has seen it become a fully-fledged service provided by the Trust, helping young people from 0 to 25 years old across Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.
The service has discharged 55 young people since the start of the pilot, and demand for the service is growing.
The service has even received national recognition. The pilot is an example of best practice by NHS England in a report on working in partnership with people and communities. This recognised how co-production was at the heart of the project, as young people and families were involved from the project's inception, from submitting funding bids to writing job descriptions for key workers.
This month, a special event was held for key workers, young people, and their families to celebrate the service's success and plan for the future.
The event also saw young people supported by the service share their experiences of how the support of a key worker has made a real impact on their lives.
Aidan said: "I think it has given me more confidence to say what I want for my care. I feel my voice is being heard more.
"It's been life-changing. Working with Beck was like I had a friend on my side."
Aidan was joined at the event by Megan, who shared how she came to the keyworker service after losing Trust in services. She explained how having a keyworker by her side has helped rebuild her Trust and confidence.
Megan said: "My keyworker saw me as a person, not the person in the paperwork."
Andrea Craddock, professional lead for the keyworker team, was involved in launching the service and is now looking at how it can be developed further to help more young people in the Black Country.
She said: "It was quite daunting going into something brand new, but that's the excitement and beauty of it. It has been wonderful to see the team grow and develop in confidence.
"Each keyworker has developed a niche. We can now match a key worker to a young person based on their needs and personality, so we deliver a young person-centred service.
"We have been able to create something quite special, and we help young people immensely."
Kuli Kaur Wilson, Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer at Black Country Healthcare Foundation Trust, said: "It is wonderful to see how the keyworker service has developed in the Black Country from an experimental pilot to a service that is making a real difference to young people and their families.
"As the lead provider for learning disabilities and autism in the Black Country, we are committed to developing services that deliver better health outcomes for our local people.
"The creation of the keyworker service benefitted significantly from us being the lead provider as we had the flexibility and autonomy to make this long-needed service a reality.
"By co-producing the project with young people and their families, we have been able to create a service that puts the needs of young people at its heart.
"I'm so proud of the team that made this happen and look forward to seeing it achieve even greater things in the future."