The Society of Radiographers is calling upon the NHS to tackle barriers in hospitals that prevent neurodivergent patients from accessing the care they deserve.
Hospital environments present challenging barriers for neurodivergent patients, the SoR has said, while a lack of workplace adjustments is driving neurodivergent staff out of the service.
Autism-friendly waiting rooms could help to alleviate some of these barriers, while policies to communicate expectations clearly could reduce stress and risk for neurodivergent patients and staff.
'Anxiety and lack of information'
Approximately 15 per cent of the population is estimated to be neurodivergent, which includes people with autism and ADHD.
The SoR believes that national guidelines are urgently needed across the NHS. In September, it will bring a motion to the TUC Congress in September calling for measures to support neurodivergent patients and staff.
Ben Potts, a Diagnostic Radiographer who is researching the experiences of neurodivergent patients at City St George’s University of London, explained that the NHS remains an often inhospitable place for them.
“Research has shown that 51 per cent of autistic people find waiting rooms unbearable – they’re too much of a sensory experience,” he added. “That’s compared with 8 per cent of non-autistic people.
“Going into an MRI scanner, which makes a lot of noise, or into an X-ray examination room, where radiographers need to touch patients to position them accurately for the X-ray imaging – these are areas where there can be an extra layer of difficulty for autistic people.
“You have to ring your GP at a certain time to get an appointment. We all find that annoying, but some autistic people find phone calls very, very difficult. So they won’t make the call.
“Or they’ll go into the emergency department and there’s no clear pathway to help them understand what’s going to happen, so they can’t build up expectations and prepare for the process. This anxiety and lack of information will often mean they leave the emergency department without getting the care they urgently need.”
'Overstimulation leads to burnout'
Dr Julie Woodley, a senior lecturer in radiography at the University of the West of England, added that neurodivergent clinicians working in the NHS often face difficulties as well.
She said: “Managers don’t really understand what neurodivergent patients need, so they’re not going to understand what the neurodivergent workforce needs, either.”
Her research has revealed that some neurodivergent radiographers were forced to take annual leave to attend medical or therapy appointments – even though the Equality Act calls for workplaces to accommodate such appointments.
“Some people have said that they’ve got to the point where they’re going to have to leave the NHS. They feel worn down by it all. Overstimulation leads to burnout – there’s so much thrown at them that their brain just waves the white flag. You can mask it and keep going, but at some point you’ll just tip over into crisis. This makes it harder to retain expert professionals in the service,” she added.
This work is also a priority for the College of Radiographers: the Quality Standard for Imaging (QSI) services requires radiographers to deliver care personalised to patients, and it provides grants to support research in this area.
(Image: Ben Potts)