Autism: Children

(asked on 15th March 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children are waiting for (a) an assessment and (b) a diagnosis for autism spectrum disorder.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 22nd March 2024

The latest autism assessment waiting times data drawn from the Mental Health Services Dataset was published on 14 March 2024. This data showed that the number of people aged zero to 17 years old with an open referral for suspected autism was 102,024 in December 2023. The data also showed that, in December 2023, 6.3% of patients, or 5,443 patients, aged zero to 17 years old received a first contact appointment within 13 weeks.

Data on children and young people in this dataset is expected to be an underestimate. Caution should be used when interpreting these statistics since they are experimental rather than official statistics. The majority of children assessed for autism in the United Kingdom are seen in child development services, which are out of the scope of this dataset. This means the published figures will underestimate the volume of referrals or diagnoses and the associated impact on health services. NHS England continue to conduct exploratory analysis into the Community Services Dataset, with a view to include autism waiting times data from this dataset. This should improve the coverage of this data.

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