90 youngsters waiting 2 years for autism test
NEARLY 11,000 children are awaiting assessment for conditions such as autism – with some appointments delayed by years.
Soaring numbers of youngsters need the neurodevelopmental evaluations.
In one health board area, 90 children have been waiting more than two years to be assessed.
The Scottish Government target is four weeks.
There are fears delays could see children miss out on health and education support which could boost their prospects.
Responses to Freedom of Information requests show 10,959 people in Scotland are on waiting lists for neurodevelopmental assessments, although the true figure could be higher as four health boards failed to provide figures.
The waiting list numbers are not centrally collated, so the scale of the problem is not revealed in official statistics.
Figures provided by NHS Highland showed that, of 577 children on its list, 90 had been there for more than 104 weeks.
Edward Mountain, Scottish Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands region, said: ‘It is a sad indictment of this
SNP Government that nearly 11,000 children and young people are waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment.
‘The minister for mental wellbeing and social care has admitted the SNP Government does not even monitor neurodevelopmental waiting lists for each health board and so has no idea of the extent of the problems.
‘Perhaps now we have supplied him with the appalling numbers, he can get on with helping children and parents whom he is currently letting down.’
In September, Mental Well2021, being Minister Kevin Stewart said a new ‘national specification’ would provide a basis to ‘enhance evidence and data collection’ on neurodevelopmental assessment waiting lists.
The same month, the Scottish Government released guidance on the assessments, which are also used to diagnose conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The guidance introduced a target that children and young people should receive assessments within four weeks of identification of need.
Figures show 3,153 children were waiting in Lanarkshire in
‘Sad indictment of Government’
up from 1,684 in 2020, with 1,560 waiting in Lothian, up from 508. In the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, waiting lists in Glasgow City rose from 1,094 in 2020 to 1,174 in 2021.
In NHS Highland, 159 people had waited from 78 to 104 weeks, while 135 had waited more than a year but less than 78 weeks.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification... published in September 2021, which specifies the standards that all services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland.’