How the Green Light Toolkit was developed

The Green Light Toolkit 2022 has been informed by three previous versions:

  • In 2004, the Department of Health commissioned the first edition. It considered learning disability services and mental health services, made no mention of autism and the survey consisted of 88 questions.
  • The 2013 version was commissioned by the Department of Health with support from the NHS Confederation and created by the National Development Team for Inclusion. The commissioners decided to focus the new Toolkit solely on mental health services and include autistic people alongside people with learning disabilities.
  • The 2017 update saw minor revisions to the policy context.

This online 2022 edition has been comprehensively rewritten to pay more attention to the importance of creating an accessible environment for people with sensory differences, to offer a choice of survey questions and to create an online analysis option for teams to control themselves.

The work was commissioned by the National Autism Team at NHS England and Improvement as part of its response to the NHS Long Term Plan. The resources were written and collated by Peter Bates, Associate at the National Development Team for Inclusion, a non-profit development agency that aims to improve the life chances of different groups of people within a broader context of equality, inclusion and citizenship across all ages.

The following people with learning disabilities, autistic people and staff made valuable contributions to shaping the work: Dave Atkinson, Stacey Atkinson, Theresa  Bull, Sue Bridges, Louise Bridgman, Charli Clement, Madeline Cooper, Jill Corbyn, Kate D, Conor Davidson, Di Domenico, Drew Edwards, Gail Galvin, Denise Gentry, Alison Giraud-Saunders, Anne-Marie Gregory, Lyn Griffiths, Naomi Hardman, Holly Hunter-Brown, Karen Hyde, Katie Hyde, Chris Ince, Jill Jinks, Louise Kirby, Chris Knifton, Karina Marshall-Tate, Vicky Mason-Angelow, George Matuska, Ursula McCann, Colin McMillan, Kathy Melling, Ann Memmott, Sandra Montisci, David Newman, The NSFT Easy Read Group, Laura Oates, Gail Petty, Jess Renton, Michelle Rholdes, Amy Ronaldson, Aaron Senior, Loren Snow, Crawford Tait, Ester Vickers, Gaynor Ward, Emily Williams and Caroline Wills.