As part of World Autism Acceptance Month, we are taking the opportunity to highlight the incredible work of our Autism Link Workers.
These colleagues play a crucial role in ensuring that our hospital remains an inclusive, accessible, and supportive environment for everyone.
One of the Trust’s colleagues, Michelle Orchard, who works in Radiology, balances this role alongside her work, and brings a unique perspective as both a healthcare professional and a parent of an autistic son.
She said: " I have various experiences both professionally and as the parent of an autistic son, therefore I've experienced it from both sides. Unfortunately, not all my experiences have had a positive outcome.
“Hospitals in general can be very challenging environments due to the sensory overload they create. I know how challenging this can be for patients, parents/carers and staff and I want to use my own experience to improve situations for our neurodiverse patients and their parents/carers.
“Being an autism link worker isn't just about supporting our autistic patients; it's about supporting our autistic colleagues as well.
“It's also about helping to educate colleagues as to how they can recognise and support these patients as we aren't always aware that a patient or colleague is autistic or neurodivergent.”
Michelle plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the patient journey within the department is as smooth as possible from start to finish.
She added: “I'm able to help with everything from booking appointments to performing examinations. Where possible we try to book scans around the patient so we can implement as many reasonable adjustments as we can for everyone.
“Of course, some of the patients are emergencies and we have to adapt the best we can. I'm always looking for ways we can improve things and work with the other autism links in radiology to share our ideas and experiences to do this.”
Click here to read more about the work done by the Trust to support people with an autism spectrum condition.
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