Autism: Health Services

(asked on 7th July 2015) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS treatment options for patients with autism spectrum disorder; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Alistair Burt Portrait
Alistair Burt
This question was answered on 13th July 2015

We do not hold this information centrally.

Revised statutory guidance on autism for local authorities and the National Health Service was issued on 26 March this year and continued to include the importance of having access locally to a diagnostic pathway and improving the quality of services for adults with autism.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care. NICE has published three clinical guidelines on autism and a quality standard. It has also produced an implementation pack on developing multi-agency local autism teams and support for commissioning autism services, which outlines key actions that commissioners should take. Although arrangements for referrals for autism diagnosis are a matter for local determination, NHS England has a role in assuring the process is adopted. Representations on clinical approaches concerning autism are normally forwarded by the Department to NHS organisations or other relevant authorities.

Public Health England oversees an annual autism self-assessment exercise amongst local authority areas and their partners. In 2013/14, it reported that 4,677 people had received a diagnosis of an autistic spectrum condition in the year to the end of March 2014, based on data submitted from 102 of a possible 152 local authority areas. In the same exercise, the average waiting time between referral and assessment as reported by 110 local authority areas was 29.6 weeks. This was the first time these questions had been asked in this form. The results of the 2014/15 exercise will be published in the autumn.

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