Adults face more than two-year wait for an autism assessment

Some patients could be facing waits of more than two years to receive an autism assessment.

A freedom of information request from the Scottish Conservatives found 850 patients are waiting for an assessment by adult services across the north-east.

It also found only 55 NHS Grampian patients have been assessed in the last two years.

The party slammed the “lack of any nationallyagreed standards or assessment time expectations” and is calling for a meeting with Mental Wellbeing and Social Care Minister Maree Todd.

The Tories have claimed that if the rate of assessments carries on, NHS Grampian potentially faces a 32year backlog. However, the health board has stressed they are “not remotely near the level claimed” by the party.

Health bosses say they are taking action to improve the waiting time but the service is experiencing a “steep” rise in referrals.

Aberdeenshire West MSP Alexander Burnett is the co-founder of the Scottish Parliament’s group on autism.

He has backed a report calling for all health and social care partnerships to create an “adult neurodevelopmental pathway strategy and planning group”.

The recommendation made by the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) was accepted by then mental wellbeing and social care minister Kevin Stewart on March 24.

Now, the Scottish Conservative MSP has urged Ms Todd to outline additional support for local diagnosis.

He said: “Autism assessment times for younger people are being managed effectively. And in the past, 50 adults being seen in a year would be seen as average. But there has unquestionably been a massive increase.

“The lack of any nationally-agreed standards could mean boards and patients are flying blind. I ask the minister to outline how adoption of the NAIT recommendations will work and whether diagnosis teams will be getting extra support to drive the backlog down.”

A spokesman for NHS Grampian said: “We do not recognise the discrepant claims of a ‘32year backlog’ in referrals.

“The service started seeing patients in July 2021. During its initial period, fewer cases were assessed due to the pandemic and its effects.

“As awareness of the service has grown, the number of referrals has increased greatly. The average waiting time for a diagnostic appointment for autistic spectrum conditions in the last two years has been 322.4 days.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said teams are already working on the recommendations.

MSP Alexander Burnett.