To ask if you have a child with autism or on the pathway, How long are assessment wait times in your area?

[Crispymandm]

Just curious to see how long nhs assessment takes in your area after referral , and if your child was offered support after diagnosis?

About 18m when we joined, we are close to panel now. If we joined now it is over 2.5 yrs. For us it would have been quicker but speech and language has taken ages

As for support currently, we had a great camhs experience, school treat as though diagnosed, have an early help assessment in place. This is at an academy school locally. We probably won't get a ehcp at locally they are like gold dust! But school are doing good.

It differs from area to area but in our area before secondary school they go through paediatrics, secondary school age and above its cahms and cahms waiting time is much longer

I'm starting to feel the 18 month wait here is not so bad now! Still a 7 month wait for a private appointment I have booked.
I had a lovely letter from the NHS confirming we are on the list with an info sheet about coping strategies.

3-5 years depending on the age of the child at the time of referral. Under sixes are about 2.5 years, over sixes it seems to be about a 4 year wait.

I went privately for my daughter's assessment with a doctor who also works for the NHS doing Neurodevelopmental referrals. The whole process was complete in 4 weeks from initial enquiry to diagnostic report. It was expensive but worth every penny.

Varies. My son (now 6) has been waiting 14 months. I’m the senco at his school and some children I referred were seen within 6 months. When I queried this they said they are prioritising year 6s and children at risk of exclusion which makes it tricky to give parents a timeline

Yes, how strongly it presents plays a part, as does, by the look of it, the level of disruption it causes.

Daughter was able to mask really well at school for the most part and was always top of her class, so no one took anything seriously until she got to secondary and her lack of appropriate social skills, huge anxiety and other MH issues began to surface, but because she never caused trouble or was disruptive, she was not a priority.

Her autism is mild and outbursts are only ever at home, but she is at risk of self-harm and suffering from constant anxiety, which is now starting to show in OCD-like behaviours, too. It's heartbreaking to see. She only got diagnosed a few weeks back and we're now waiting for the report, which can still take another month.

I'm on nearly 4yrs for an adult assessment and will be 2yrs for ds with no word yet

Seriously those of you with such long waits. Look at right to choose. Adults and Children. Right to use your nhs provider. It’s not private. It’s funded by Nhs.

Southwark: referral in November, screened in maybe March, assessed in June (they wanted to do it later but there was a chance we were moving so moved sooner), reassessment in a year so looking at summer 2023. She's 4 atm

Start again as far as I'm aware, that's why they moved ours forward so we could get it done incase we moved and left the area (I could move one street south and be out of area!)

Scotland here. Dc was referred in Sept at just over 2 years old, first appointment in November, diagnosed in Jan. I was incredulous how quick it was but it was very obvious in our case so assume that made it quicker.

Very little support after diagnosis, was just basically told to claim dla!

Our son took 2.5 years to get his appt. Diagnosed with ASD and ADHD. We asked for meds to help with the ADHD. They are issued with paediatrics so we had to join another queue in the summer and only just had it now. So just over 3 years. Couldn't believe it that we had to start over for the meds. Why they aren't joined up is beyond me. We are now jousting the whole thing again for his sister......hopefully we can that in place before she becomes an adult.

Was referred by school in year 2. Seen by various professionals in Year 5. Told we would have a diagnosis at the next appointment in a ‘couple of months’. Now in Year 10. So process is at least 8 years for us.

We get emails every so often asking if we still want to be seen, so we’ve not been forgotten…

6 months to be triaged and then they give you a proper timescale. Although we are at 6 months now so waiting for a letter any day.
When I get that I might pursue right to choose.

4y, no support or follow up

South Wales - 13 months from referral to diagnosis. We had speech and language appointments, and Education psychologist appointment within this time.
He was diagnosed at 4 in January.
No support since then, follow up
appointment scheduled for 6 months.

We were told over 2 years with the NHS so went private.

We waited 8 weeks for an initial assessment. Then lots of appointments, school involvement etc but had a diagnosis and full report 7 weeks later.

DS was referred right at the start of COVID, when he was 12, and we were told it would be at least 36 months front the point that they would be able to see patients face to face again (Ha!)

We then sought out a private clinic that was recommended and he had his full diagnoses about 8 months later. His private assessment took longer than usual because he was initially screened for diagnosis of once condition, and came out with a couple others that no one else in his education environments had ever considered (except me--who was fobbed off with loads of "He's not x. If he would only work/concentrate harder..." throughout his primary years)

By 13 and a half he had a full diagnosis. Had we waited for NHS, he'd still be on a waitlist, nearly halfway through his GCSEs.

I should also add that because DS's diagnosis report was considered NICE compliant, the local NHS clinic had no problem accepting his diagnosis and prescription relatively quickly (after a re-referral from our GP). I know you sometimes have to be careful with private diagnoses in this way.

Referral went in exactly one year ago, was told 18-24 month wait. Was seen last week for assessment and diagnosis, so only a 12 month wait in the end.

This is in Manchester.

I believe CAMHS have had to outsource for a private company to do the assessments and they made that decision after we'd been referred, hence the shorter wait.

No support afterwards for daughter.

We’ve just had an initial telephone consultation (to determine if this is the right path - it is) that was 14 months after referral. It’ll be another 2 years until we actually see someone for assessment

they signposted resources and told me about various schemes and programmes we can try to access in the meantime. So far all I’ve tried, including ELSA at school are oversubscribed and can’t help us.

it’s shit.