What happens next?

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  ‘What happens next?’ – what happens to people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people when they leave ‘long-stay’ hospital settings, and what sorts of support help people to stay out of hospital?

• IRAS ID

  352845

• Contact name

  Jon Glasby

• Contact email

  j.glasby@bham.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Birmingham

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  N /A, N/A

• Duration of Study in the UK

  3 years, months, days

• Research summary

  Some 2,000 people with learning disabilities and autistic people are patients in hospital settings, often for many years with no sense of when they might be able to leave.

  Lots of people are trying to help them come out of hospital and lead more ordinary lives.

  However, we know little about:

  • What happens to people when they leave hospital
  • What types of support help them to stay healthy and well

  Hospitals have told us that they sometimes work with someone for 5 years or more – but then don’t know anything that happens to them next when they leave hospital. This means that we can’t possibly know whether we’re supporting people well or how well our plans have worked in practice.

  This study follows on from our research into people’s experiences in hospital. This was called ‘Why are we stuck in hospital’.

  This new research will try to meet people and the staff who support them as they are coming out of hospital, then meet them again each year over two years. A team which includes people with learning disabilities/autistic people will work with the person to see what their life is like, where they live, what sort of support they are getting and the connections they have to other people and their local community. We will also talk to hospital and social care staff.

  We aim to talk to 30 people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people over time, through at least one large provider, two medium providers and three small providers.

  At the end of the project, we will know more about people’s journeys and experiences after hospital, and about what sorts of support help people lead ordinary lives in the community. We will use this information to produce lots of guides and videos to help improve policy and practice.

• REC name

  Social Care REC

• REC reference

  25/IEC08/0006

• Date of REC Opinion

  12 Mar 2025

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion