Brick by brick

Published by NHS England, this document contains resources to support mental health hospital-to-home discharge planning for autistic people and people with a learning disability, including protocol document and housing needs assessment templates.

This document also includes the aims and objectives of the brick-by-brick approach, alongside recommended strategic actions to underpin hospital-to-home discharge processes.

The protocol will help practitioners such as social workers, occupational therapists, clinicians, C(E)TR leads, and commissioners working in local health and social care systems to identify housing options for autistic people and people with a learning disability, who are inpatients in mental health hospitals.

The housing needs assessment template is designed be used or adapted to align with, or strengthen, local requirements and processes.

The aim is to ensure that housing is planned and sourced much earlier within discharge process, to enable people to be discharged in a timely manner into community-based housing settings.