Spring 2015

It has been a while since I have done one of these news items, for which I apologise. This has been due to a number of reasons – the main one being we have been so busy!

At the start of this year we were approached by North Wales CAMHS to help reduce their waiting list and between February and May of this year we will have seen 36 children for specialist neurodevelopmental assessment. Dr Buchan has thoroughly enjoyed meeting with all the children who came to see her and we hope to be able to share with you the analysis of this work once it has been completed.

In March 2015, myself and Dr Buchan attended the National Autistic Society’s Professionals Conference which was at the Harrogate International Centre and also had an exhibition stand again. This event was a great success and our Axia ASD pens certainly went down a treat! There were some very interesting speakers throughout the two day conference as well as some very informative and exciting workshops and seminars. We also had the pleasure of attending the Awards Ceremony and delighted to be there when Cath Logan of Circus Starr received her award.

And now on to some very exciting news….. Clients who reside within the Eastern Cheshire region are now able to access us directly from referral by their General Practitioner without the need for funding to be applied for with the Clinical Commissioning Group. This is fantastic news for both Axia ASD Ltd and more importantly clients residing in this area as this should greatly reduce the length of waiting time to be seen for a diagnosis. We are currently in discussion with South Cheshire and Vale Royal Clinical Commissioning Groups regarding the future referral of patients and hope to be able to provide you with an update on this very soon.

We held our first post-diagnostic support group at Crewe Library on 25 March and I am very pleased to announce this was well received by all who attended the day. We have our second group next Wednesday (29 April) and all future dates for the year can be found in the News section on our website (here). Again, we are in discussions with the Commissioners regarding future funding of this group but needless to say we will continue to provide this vital post-diagnostic support group regardless.

Our Film Society has been in existence for some months now and is forever evolving and changing. We are now accepting user content on a range of topics and would welcome views on any books, animation, films, even food! We are open to discussion on widening the topics reviewed and discussed so please feel welcome to share any ideas you have. I know of one in particular from my husband who would like an Art Appreciation section on the website!

I wanted to also take this opportunity to advise you that Anna Stephenson, Assistant Psychologist to Dr Buchan has also now moved on to pastures new. It has been a pleasure working with Anna over the last three years and we wish her every success for the future.

As Axia ASD Ltd has become so busy with the requests received from various Clinical Commissioning Groups, as well as self-referrals, we are no longer seeing people for ongoing post-diagnostic support or complex psychological intervention for individual sessions. For clients wishing to access this type of support we are delighted to introduce Elspeth Bromiley of Ancora Therapy Services Ltd. Elspeth and Dr Buchan have been longstanding colleagues and friends and indeed provide peer support to each other. For further information regarding this please feel welcome to contact me (Carly) as I am also Elsepth’s P.A. and Secretary.

Our current waiting time to be seen for specialist neurodevelopmental assessment is nine (9) weeks and I am pleased to report that clients can still expect to receive their fully detailed assessment reports within 30 days of the date of the appointment.

I am also pleased to announce that we have moved Consulting Rooms. We are still based at Red Hill House, Hope Street, Saltney, Chester, CH4 8BU and indeed on the same floor as before, however, we are now situated in our own exclusive room which, I can say, has been personalised with Axia ASD Ltd’s personal touch.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Colin Clerkin of Clerkin Psychology Services for all their help and advice throughout our time within their suite of consulting rooms.

So, I hope you have enjoyed reading this news update. If you would like further information regarding something that is not included within this item please feel welcome to leave a comment or contact me directly.