Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism: Children and Young People

(asked on 2nd May 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, (a) what recent steps his Department has taken to support children and young people on the waiting list and (b) what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for children and young people (i) to see a specialist and (ii) for treatment in relation to a suspected diagnosis of (A) autism and (B) ADHD.


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 11th May 2023

We expect integrated care boards to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when commissioning services for children and young people.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service and local authorities improve their autism assessment services and improve the experience for children and young people referred to an autism assessment service. Additionally, this year, £4.2 million is available to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

NHS England publish data on how many people are waiting for an autism diagnosis and for how long, which provides useful information nationally and locally to support local areas to improve their performance and to reduce diagnosis waiting times.

In a recent Westminster Hall debate on 1 February 2023, I committed to look at how we can improve data on ADHD assessment waiting times, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way and in line with the NICE guideline.

The Government will invest £2.3 billion more a year into NHS-funded mental health services by 2023/24 so that an additional 345,000 children and young people are able to access NHS-funded support.

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