Baroness Uddin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2015-09-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans are in place to reduce the current average wait for children before a diagnosis of autism.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on autism make it clear that families should wait no more than three months to start diagnosis. Every part of the National Health Service should be adhering to these guidelines.

There are new arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs, introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014. These require clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities to make joint arrangements for ensuring a coordinated assessment of the range of eligible children’s needs, and the development of an Education, Health and Care plan to provide necessary support.

NHS England’s Children with Complex Needs Implementation Board is leading working on ensuring robust and accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure delivery and to allow NHS England to hold CCGs to account for performance.