Frequently Asked Questions – MOD​

NATTC are specialists in reasonable adjustments for workplace challenges due to cognition, memory, sensation, emotion and communication including the neurodiverse conditions, neurological conditions, and sensory impairment. 

Our guiding principles are based on recommending adjustments based on the evidence of the strengths and challenges each person experiences in their work context, not on providing ‘one size fits all’ solutions. Our growing evidence base shows that this improves efficiency, wellbeing and outcomes. Many current approaches oversimplify a person’s areas of challenge, continue exclusion, medicalisation and stress and offer poor return on investment. 

We provide a long-term service. We are evidence and data driven, so intelligent strengths-based assessments are at the heart of our work. This allows us to recommend effective, personalised adjustments. To ensure sustainable impact we focus on building useful habits through training and coaching alongside assistive technology and ergonomic adjustments. Finally, we aim to create cultures focused on preventing exclusion through awareness training, collaborative conversations and helping the development of psychologically safe workplaces.

NATTC works in partnership with ADHD360 and Autism360 to support diagnostic assessment and workplace support. There are two parts of the assessment.  

There is an initial Triage assessment. This is carried out by a trained member of the NATTC team under the supervision of the partnership psychologists. The Triage assessment ensures there is sufficient evidence of presentations linked to ADHD and/or ASC to allow further referral to the NHS pathway. Additionally, and importantly, this Triage also identifies how any presentations are creating challenge in the workplace. Based on this, recommendations are made that support the person in work and enhance their wellbeing. There is no value in a diagnosis if it has no impact beyond a label. 

The Triage assessment provides the evidence that allows a GP to make a referral for assessment through Right to Choose. Through our partnership, ADHD/Autism360 are also provided with the evidence that meets their pre-assessment requirements. This ensures that the assessment is linked to the NHS allowing for joint care, consistent evidence, clarity of access to medication and clinical quality assurance. 

On referral from the GP, ADHD/Autism360 will contact the person to arrange an appointment as soon as convenient for both parties, but within 3 weeks. The assessment will be carried out by a prescribing nurse, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. If medication is considered as a treatment option, ADHD360 will complete the titration. Once it has been agreed that medication is effective and safe, prescribing will be handed back to the GP.

For MOD Staff there is a cost for the Triage and recommendations for ongoing workplace adjustments and support of £395. The diagnostic assessment is funded by the NHS. 

For family members there is a cost of £395 which covers the cost of the referral paperwork and advice on post assessment support.  

Close family of MOD staff, partners and adult children, can access this system. As part of the triage process, we will provide a report with ongoing advice and support relating to workplace support, education and wellbeing. 

We work with support organisations such as the National Autistic Society and ADHD-UK, local mental health support services, Universities, Colleges and workplaces to ensure that reliable and safe support is accessible. 

Currently we can support children over the age of 16.  

Currently, service personnel cannot access the NHS Right to Choose route and, therefore, cannot access the VIP pathway. We are working to seek clarification on a way forward that is equitable, appropriate and viable. 

Right to Choose is a pathway that is currently only available in England. The arrangement for Right to Choose in Lincolnshire is also complex. We are actively working to develop a manageable approach for MOD staff in areas currently not supported. 

Yes. We can help you transfer from your current provider. We have up to date information on waiting times for each provider so we will always make sure that any transfer will improve your waiting time. 

The assessment process for both ADHD and ASC follow the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for each condition. Additionally, the partnership will always ensure that we build a sound and reliable picture of an individual’s presentations.  There are some areas we need to explore, for example, we need to establish that symptoms have been present since childhood in some form, and that any symptoms can be demonstrated to have a moderate impact on life, work or learning 

Generally, in the NHS diagnostic pathway, an individual is presented with several forms and screening tools to work through on their own. This can be time consuming, stressful, and it is often difficult to know what to say that is helpful. We will work through these forms with you in the Triage process and word your responses to both describe your experience and support decision making.  

The Partnership are constantly improving this element of the process to improve efficiency and accuracy. We use clinically valid screening tools, will carry out a risk assessment to ensure your wellbeing is maintained, and look at areas such as masking and anxiety which can impact presentations.  

Once your GP has been referred you will meet with your clinician. They will ask you some more questions. At times, these questions can feel repetitive, but we need to be sure we are making the right decision.

A key aspect of the Triage is the time spent understanding how any challenge impacts on aspects of work. Although a diagnosis is important from a personal level, and also to establish a reliable evidence base for the requirement to fund adjustments in Law, it is only part of the picture. 

It is essential to recognise that the impact of a challenge in the workplace is complex. Some of the conditions we work with are lifelong, and people have had to adapt to environments in learning and work, often having to work harder for less reward – educational outcomes, promotion, judgement, increased stress. Other conditions are life changing, with people having to adapt to a new future. People mask their challenges, people hide the stress and frustration, and yet, are often exposed to criticism and judgement across their lives because they find they are less efficient than “normal” in an aspect of work. 

We look at the specific areas of challenge and begin building a plan through the workplace recommendations in the Triage report. Often, this will include a recommendation for Workplace Needs Assessment, which will look in more detail at the adjustments that are most likely to have impact. We will also add advice on soft adjustments that can be implemented quickly to improve efficiency in the area of challenge.  

Essentially, the Triage is not just for diagnosis. It also is a triage for ongoing support. 

You will work with a specialist assessor to establish your workplace strengths and areas of specific challenge. The assessor will then make recommendations on the most useful reasonable adjustments for you based on your area of challenge, the context in which you work, and the nature of your current role. 

Recommendations will be given across four areas: 

Environmental adjustments – for example, ensuring your workstation does not worsen your condition, or finding the correct balance between home working and site working to ensure the burden of a sensory impairment is managed. Environmental adjustments may also include soft adjustments – changes to the way work is carried out – for example, recommending shorter meetings to allow for time to recharge. 

Assistive technology – for example, text prediction software to improve the efficiency of typing, or text to speech software to allow access to written text for someone with a visual impairment. 

Training and coaching – there is no point in being given an expensive piece of technology without understanding how best to use it. This is not covered in user manuals or an hour of training– it needs to be focused on the way you work. When we live with an area of challenge over a long period of time, we search for ways to manage, and these are not always positive and productive – or we get into habits such as procrastination. We recognise that the most impactful adjustments allow for the formation of new habits based on self-awareness and context relevance. 

We also recognise the value of collaborative approaches, and so we often recommend line manager coaching. When we do this as a collaboration, we often see that wider workplace approaches are adopted that work for a whole team and not an individual. It is sometimes important to challenge the “we have always done it this way” mindset. 

Wellbeing and awareness – There is no need for a workplace to add additional stresses beyond those inherent in delivering outcomes. Psychological safety is essential, especially in high-pressure frontline environments. We begin with the premise that someone who is absent from work due to stress is a failure of the system and not the individual and it is expensive. Creating collaborative, safe environments is the first step to this. Often, we can learn from the most effective teams in the most difficult of contexts about the value of observation, looking after each other, and mitigating challenges. 

Whilst a safe workplace is the foundation, there are times when additional interventions are required. We are able to offer counselling, evidence-based therapies and social prescribing to keep people well. It is easier to prevent a problem than react to one. 

We do all we can to personalise our recommendations. We are very aware that one size does not fit all, and individual complexity means it is easy to partially solve one problem by creating another one. Data is at the heart of what we do and we are working on some industry leading approaches in collaboration with Experts in academia and industry globally. 

Currently, NATTC supports DE&S and the SDA with services around reasonable adjustments. We have a strong working relationship with the Reasonable Adjustments team in HR for these two organisations. If you work here, please contact the reasonable Adjustments team. 

If you are a civilian member of staff with another enabling organisation, Head Office, Strategic Command, Space Command or DNO you will need to contact your Reasonable Adjustments team, or the team in Human Resources who manage reasonable adjustments in your workplace. If you are not sure who the right person would be we may be able to help you to identify who the appropriate team or person is if you can provide us with the name of your organisation and your location. If you are based at Abbey Wood, we will just need to know your organisation. 

The first step in supporting employees with reasonable adjustments to support Neurodiversity, neurological conditions, and sensory impairment is to recognise the significant differences between occupational health and building normal ways of working. 

 Occupational health support mainly focuses on getting employees back to work, while a focus on building sustainable, collaborative, normal ways or working involves ongoing support to help individuals become efficient in the workplace by managing long-term barriers and preventing exclusion. This distinction is vital for line managers, who are often at the forefront of employee support but may need more training and resources to do this effectively. 

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