No one should have to face long waits for an autism assessment. We expect services to adhere to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard which recommends that the length between referral and a first appointment to start an assessment should be no more than three months.<\/p>
We are determined to drive up performance nationally. We will use data on autism diagnosis waiting times, available for the first time later this year, to hold local areas to account and act where waiting times exceed the NICE standard.<\/p>
Whilst a diagnosis of autism should happen as soon as possible, it is important to recognise that a diagnosis is often complex and can involve different professionals and agencies. We are following the prevailing clinical guidance set out by NICE.<\/p>
NHS England and NHS Improvement encourage local areas to follow existing NICE guidelines and quality standards when commissioning and delivering diagnosis services for both children and adults.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "276606"} , {"_value" : "276607"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-17T15:23:52.42Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Autism: Diagnosis"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to reduce waiting times for autism assessments for adults.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4666", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Paul Williams"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stockton South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Paul Williams"} ], "uin" : "276605"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1138640", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health and Social Care"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1138640/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
No one should have to face long waits for an autism assessment. We expect services to adhere to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard which recommends that the length between referral and a first appointment to start an assessment should be no more than three months.<\/p>
We are determined to drive up performance nationally. We will use data on autism diagnosis waiting times, available for the first time later this year, to hold local areas to account and act where waiting times exceed the NICE standard.<\/p>
Whilst a diagnosis of autism should happen as soon as possible, it is important to recognise that a diagnosis is often complex and can involve different professionals and agencies. We are following the prevailing clinical guidance set out by NICE.<\/p>
NHS England and NHS Improvement encourage local areas to follow existing NICE guidelines and quality standards when commissioning and delivering diagnosis services for both children and adults.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4008", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Dinenage"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Gosport"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Caroline Dinenage"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-07-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "276605"} , {"_value" : "276607"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-07-17T15:23:52.467Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Autism: Diagnosis"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with NHS England to implement a waiting time standard for autism diagnosis in the CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework in order to tackle regional differences.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4666", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Paul Williams"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stockton South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Paul Williams"} ], "uin" : "276606"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }