AQW 1354/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Health
To ask the Minister of Health how long, on average, it takes an adult to receive their autism diagnosis assessment, broken down by Health and Social Care Trust.
Asked by Peter McReynolds MLA on 13 June 2022
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 13 June 2022
- Answer due by
- 28 June 2022
- Answered
- 17 June 20224 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Health
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The average length of time it takes an adult to receive an autism diagnosis assessment is not collected by my Department; however, the number of adults waiting for an autism assessment following a referral by wait time for each Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust is presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Number of adults waiting for an autism assessment following referral by Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust and time waiting at 31 March 2022
| HSC Trust | Number of adults waiting for an autism assessment by wait time | Total | ||||
| 0-13 weeks | >13-26 weeks | >26-39 weeks | >39-52 weeks | >52 weeks | ||
| Belfast | 0 | 32 | 21 | 31 | 446 | 520 |
| South Eastern | 61 | 53 | 45 | 44 | 85 | 288 |
| Southern | 37 | 28 | 9 | 12 | 192 | 278 |
| Western | 27 | 27 | 21 | 24 | 89 | 188 |
| Northern Ireland | 125 | 130 | 96 | 111 | 812 | 1,274 |
Source: Monthly Adult’s Autism Waiting Times Trust Returns, SPPG.
Note: Information from the Northern HSC Trust for 2021/22 is currently unavailable due to ongoing issues with their IT system migration.