Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 2 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to assess how autism diagnosis waiting times could be routinely recorded and published.
The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies service standards that all children’s services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland. Scottish Government have also commissioned Directors of eHealth, working with others including Public Health Scotland, to work to improve digital infrastructure, applications and data to report on all standards within the National Neurodevelopmental Specification.
In addition to these actions, and to support this work, £3.06 million has been allocated to NHS Boards, for the remainder of this year, to build professional capacity within Boards to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.
The Scottish Government has also established the National Autism Implementation Team, in partnership with Queen Margaret University, to support Health and Social Care Partnerships to consider best practice and improve service in adult autism diagnostic services. The National Implementation Team is supporting NHS Boards to examine diagnostic pathways for autism and establish regional experts to assist with improving tiered autism specialisms across health boards.