NEW Resources for Autism - services across Birmingham and Solihull

Navigating the Wait Together - The Pathway Project
The Pathway Project is a partnership between Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC), Sense, Kids and Resources for Autism, with Sense acting as the lead organisation. Funded by the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System (ICS) Fairer Futures Fund, the project aims to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for children and families accessing health and social care services. The project objectives are to:

• Provide timely, accessible, and holistic support for Birmingham families with children aged 0 to 16 who are navigating the Neurodevelopmental Pathway (NDP) while awaiting assessment.
• Bring together community, clinical and professional expertise across the voluntary and statutory sectors to deliver integrated support during a challenging and uncertain time.
• Deliver three key outcomes - empowered families, reduced inequalities and improved outcomes for neurodiverse children and young people.

Resources for Autism offer a range of free, hybrid support options, including:

• Online workshops and courses
• Peer support and wellbeing sessions
• Community-based activities across Birmingham
• Support delivered at their BAYC locality and local community hubs
• Outreach work with schools, particularly those with high numbers of pupils on the NDP

Parent carers can register their interest here or contact Kelly Bumpus at Kelly@resourcesforautism.org.uk. 

Birmingham and Solihull Branching Minds Programme
Now entering its second year, the Branching Minds Programme continues to support autistic adults, parent carers, and the professionals who work alongside them across Birmingham and Solihull. Commissioned by the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism Provider Collaborative, the programme has already demonstrated measurable improvements in:

• Emotional wellbeing
• Confidence and resilience
• Early intervention
• Frontline staff knowledge and capability
• Autism-affirming practice across services

The next phase of delivery is now launching.

For autistic adults
A 12-week programme for autistic adults with low support needs:

• Daytime group: Tuesdays, 12pm - 2pm. Starting from 29 September and running weekly until 15 December at the BAYC Conference Space, B29 7EL.
• Evening group (pilot): Tuesdays, 7pm - 9pm. Starting 29 September and running fortnightly until 16 March 2027 at the BAYC Conference Space, B29 7EL.

For parent carers
Fortnightly wellbeing, activity and connection sessions at BAYC, providing opportunities to meet others, share experiences and access support.

All programmes are free to attend.

For health and care professionals
Resources for Autism delivers 'understanding autism to enhance your professional practice' - a highly-rated 5.5-hour training programme. This is available at the BAYC Conference Space (up to 20 delegates) or on-site at NHS and partner locations across Birmingham and Solihull. The training has already been delivered to approximately 100 NHS staff.

For further information on NHS training, please contact Maree Munn at mmunn@resourcesforautism.org.uk, and for further information on autistic adult and parent carer programmes, please contact Kam Kaur at kam@resourcesforautism.org.uk.

Click here for more locations and dates!

You may soon receive an NHS GP Patient Survey. We’re really proud of the improvements we’ve made recently and hope this has been reflected in your experience with us. Your feedback is important and helps us keep improving the care we provide. If you receive a survey and are unsure how to complete it, please contact our team—we’re always happy to help. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

Super Bodies – what to do when your child has a common illness

Illnesses like coughs, sore throats and earache are extremely common in young children, but did you know our children’s ‘super bodies’ are designed to fight off many common illnesses, without the need for antibiotics?

NHS Birmingham and Solihull is sharing guidance for parents and carers on common winter illnesses like coughs, sore throats and earache. These common ailments and can be unpleasant for children and their caregivers, but are most often caused by viral infections and do not need to be treated with antibiotics, which rarely speed up recovery for these conditions.

Instead, our children’s ‘super bodies’ get to work, and most children with a normal immune system and up to date immunisations will recover in the same amount of time with or without antibiotics.

The ‘Super Bodies’ campaign shares a guide for parents and carers on the simple things they can do to treat these common ailments at home, as well as helping them to spot the signs of a more serious illness, and knowing when and where to go for medical help when it is needed.

Visit the Super Bodies page on the NHS Birmingham and Solihull website to find out more.

The Super Bodies Campaign is adapted with thanks from NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.

University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) have launched a new patient platform that allows you to interact with your hospital care. 

myhealth@UHB allows you to view your healthcare information online. All data is stored securely so your records can only be viewed using your login details.

To register to use myhealth@UHB, you will require unique registration information. This is supplied by your consultant and can be found on hospital letters.

Visit https://www.myhealth.uhb.nhs.uk/ for more information, helpful videos and to register!

*please note Yardley Wood Health Centre cannot provide you with any details or passwords for this*

We are Proud #AntibioticGuardians

Antibiotics are essential medicines to treat serious infections but they often used to treat illnesses, such as coughs, colds, earache and sore throats that can get better by themselves.

Taking antibiotics encourages bacteria that live inside you to become resistant. This means that antibiotics may not work when you really need them.  You can pass these resistant bacteria on to other people.

As antibiotic resistance increases the risk of performing common procedures such as caesarean sections,  hip replacements and cancer treatments could become life-threatening without effective antibiotics to ward off infections. Experts predict that in just over 30 years antibiotic resistance will kill more people worldwide than cancer and diabetes combined.

Please remember that taking antibiotics when you don’t need them may put you and your family at risk. It’s important that, when it comes to antibiotics, you always take your doctor, nurse or healthcare professional’s advice.

If you were recently referred for a hospital appointment and have not received an appointment and would like to know when it is please call the hospital booking office directly on...

Queen Elizabeth Booking Office - 0121 371 7060
Solihull, Heartlands and Good Hope Booking Office - 0121 424 1234
B'ham Women's Booking Office- 0121 335 8100
Royal Orthopedic Booking Office - 0121 685 4186
B'ham Children's Booking Office - 0121 333 9999

• Please see "Newsletters" (to the left) for most recent seasonal newsletters from the surgery, click "archive" for previous.