Neurodiversity-Informed Environmental Audit for Secure Mental Health Services

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is commissioning a structured environmental audit of low and medium-secure forensic mental health service wards across Thames Valley and Wessex sites. The audit will be coproduced with people with lived experience of neurodiversity and mental health services to identify how ward environments can better support service users with autism, learning disabilities, and other neurodivergent conditions. The successful provider will evaluate the physical design, layout, and day-to-day operations of specified wards against neurodiversity-informed standards, identifying gaps and priorities for improvement. Well-adapted environments can reduce distress, agitation, and seclusion incidents while promoting safety, regulation, and recovery. Recommendations may include signage improvements, reasonable adjustments, estate modifications, and operational changes. This is the second version of this procurement; only organisations that bid in the first version are eligible to participate.