Maria Caulfield, Member of Parliament for Lewes and the minister for mental health has welcomed the new guidance around Autism Assessment recently published by, NHS England.
In the constituency of Lewes Maria has been inundated by parents who have struggled to get an autism assessment for their children and this ground breaking change will mean NHS and local authorities will now have to improve their autism assessment services and improve the experience for adults and children who are referred to an autism assessment service.
Together, the framework and operational guidance are expected to help reduce autism assessment waiting times and to aid the recruitment and retention of the autism assessment services workforce. They will also ensure there is greater consistency in services across the country for people before, during and after a diagnosis.
The framework has been informed by the autism assessment pathway projects funded in 2021/22. In 2021/22 £13 million was invested to fund projects to improve autism assessment services. This included £7 million of COVID-19 recovery funding for projects aimed at addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on waiting lists. The learnings from these projects have been used to develop this national framework and operational guidance to improve autism assessment services for people of all ages.
The national framework and operational guidance support local Integrated Care Systems to make the best of their resources by setting out how services can best be delivered. This will improve the experience of people who are waiting for an autism assessment, by setting out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism.
Maria Caulfield MP said:
“These changes are intended to help improve the experience of those waiting for an autism assessment and I know it will make a difference to families not just in the Lewes constituency but across England.”