SAM ROWLANDS, member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, has expressed concern over the length of time children are waiting for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments.
Speaking in the Senedd, Mr Rowlands said:
“Cabinet Secretary, you will be aware that recent reports have shown that, by 2027, the number of children who will be seeking autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessments could triple to around 61,000.
“We already know, the pressures that those assessment services are under, and in my region of North Wales I’m aware that children are now having to wait up to five years for that assessment to take place.
“In a child’s lifetime, five years is a huge length of time. That’s clearly having an impact on their educational attainment and the appropriate services to support them through their childhood.
“Could you just briefly outline why you think that, in a place like North Wales, children are having to wait that length of time, and why you think that the pressure on assessments is not being met currently. I know that there’s a £3 million additional fund that the Welsh Government made available to support this, and do you think that’s enough to deal with this additional pressure that the service is seeing?”
Jeremy Miles, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said that he did not think that the £3 million intervention to tackle the longest waits was sufficient on its own and they needed to put the service on a different footing in the longer term to solve being able to see people more quickly.
Mr Rowlands added:
“I still remain extremely concerned with the length of time these assessments are taking and the toll it places on parents as well as the children. It is clearly time that the Welsh Government started coming up with faster solutions.”
