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Bereaved Essex mum speaks out on autism failings

Julia Hopper calls for more understanding of autism after the death of her son.

An Essex mum calls for more understanding of autism after the death of her son.
Nearly 11,500 adults in Essex are predicted to have autistic spectrum disorders 鈥 a number which is expected to rise to nearly 13,000 by 2035.
Chris Nota was 19 years old when he died in July 2020. He had been receiving care at an Essex mental health unit, and died just days after being discharged.
His mother, Julia Hopper, has told 成人快手 Essex she thinks there is a massive lack of understanding around autism.
Julia now wants a statutory inquiry and specific training for mental health care staff on how autism can mask other mental health conditions.
After the inquest, a spokesman for Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust said it had already put in place "a number of measures to improve the care we provide for people who have autism or a learning disability."
An Essex County Council spokesperson said: 鈥淭he number of children and young people with an Education Health Care Plan in Essex has risen year on year but is not disproportionate to the size of the county. Autism has grown as the main category of need as the number of diagnoses has risen and as we have greater confidence about accurate identification of need.
鈥淎s recognised by the Ofsted/CQC revisit of the local area in May 2022 ECC is confident that the quality of those Education Health Care Plans is improving. In the last 18 months two new special schools specifically for children and young people with autism, Chatten Free School in Witham and The Hawthorns School, Chelmsford, have opened in Essex which will grow the expertise available within the county.鈥

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22 minutes