The Health and Social Care Committee has today written to the
Health Minister , on the subject of the
autism and ADHD diagnostic pathways for children and young
people, following the Committee's evidence session on the subject
on 25 June.
According to NHS England statistics, as of March 2025 there were
137,977 children waiting for an autism assessment in children's
mental health services and up to 316,000 children waiting for an
ADHD assessment.
The letter from the Committee today expresses its concern at
these long waits children face before receiving diagnostic
assessment and provision of support for autism and for ADHD and
urges the government to prioritise ending these long waits.
The MPs' letter recommends a change in approach and states “given
the current level of need, which is leaving children unsupported
on waiting lists, it is clear to us that the current specialist,
diagnosis-led model of support is no longer sustainable.”
The Committee says that the “Government must develop a long-term
solution to the waiting list crisis that moves towards a
needs-led model, providing early detection and care before a
diagnosis, while recognising the value of, and maintaining access
to, diagnosis for those who need it.”
MPs believe that better utilisation of the existing generalist
workforce could go some way towards achieving this. The letter
recommends that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
and the Department for Education (DfE) together work with all
ICBs to implement this approach, which would require workforce
planning and training.
While calling for a needs-based approach, the Committee
recognises the importance of diagnosis for children, including
for accessing medication and urges the government to take
measures to address the problems encountered by children in
continuity of treatment if they move geographically or when they
enter the adult age group.
The Committee asks the Department to set out what immediate steps
it is taking to ensure that children with ADHD are diagnosed in a
timely way and can access the medication they need.
The Committee's letter discusses the workforce crisis within
specialist professions supporting children with autism and ADHD,
including speech therapists, occupational therapists and
educational psychologists, and urges the government to prioritise
investment in this workforce and to address the workforce crisis
in the NHS workforce plan.
The letter also discusses the need for reforms to the SEND
system, noting that autistic children are twice as likely to be
excluded from school. The Committee recommends that the DHSC and
DfE work together to develop guidance for schools on reasonable
adjustments and to introduce mandatory training on neurodiversity
for all school staff, to equip them to understand and support
neurodivergent children.
The Committee's letter states, “it is clear that the Government
does not have the data it needs to fully understand not only the
level of need for diagnosis, but also how these children interact
with services outside of health and their long-term outcomes”.
MPs “were particularly concerned to hear how a lack of support
can result in poor mental and physical health, increased risk of
self-harm and suicide, poor educational outcomes and entry into
the criminal justice system – much of this avoidable.”
The Committee recommends that DHSC “urgently work” with the DfE
to put in place systems to connect health and education data to
allow for analysis of outcomes for autistic children and children
with ADHD, saying “we do not see how the Government can
effectively develop a strategy to support autistic children and
children with ADHD without adequate data”.
ENDS
The Health and Social Care Committee scrutinises the spending,
policies and administration of the government Department of
Health and Social Care. It is not a government committee but a
select committee of the House of Commons with a key role in
holding ministers to account. Any of our inquiries would
correctly be described as a ‘parliamentary inquiry' and not a
‘government inquiry'.
