Fund specialist hospital units for young adults with learning disabilities and additional needs, including autism, which offer them paediatric care to age 18 where clinically appropriate. The units should be sensory-considerate, ease the eventual transition to adult care and minimise distress.

We would also like parents or carers to be able to remain in the units 24/7, and for consistent, inclusive, compassionate care to be ensured across all NHS hospitals. We think care decisions should be based on developmental rather than chronological age, with an emphasis on individual needs. We believe these young people deserve care that respects their unique challenges. We think they need understanding, not assumptions. We think they need protection, not policies that in our view fail them.