FOI 7344 - ASD waiting times

May 2022

Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The information you have requested is as follows:

I’d like to request information about the length of time it takes children referred with suspected autism to receive a diagnosis. 

Please note that Medway NHS Foundation Trust provide a community paediatric service for Swale only.  Please see data below for patients referred in 2022 as this is the only data that is currently available. 

Under section 12 we regret we are unable to provide a response to question 5 or data for earlier years.  This is because the data is not readily available and in order to produce the data all individual records would need to be reviewed for the relevant data to be extracted and this will take us beyond the 18 hour limit for requests. 

Under Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we are unable to comply with your request as the cost of responding would exceed the limit of £450 for NHS bodies.  The £450 limit is reached by using a standard charge-out rate of £25 an hour, which equates to 18 hours’ work. 

QUESTION 1

1. How many children are currently waiting to receive a first assessment appointment?  This data is not recorded as we have no way of recording the reason for referral and the Trust’s community team do not just receive referrals for children with suspected autism
2. What is the average wait time for these children, starting from the point of initial referral? 120 days (based on those children referred in 2022 that have received a definitive diagnosis)
3. How many of these children have been waiting longer than 13 weeks? 12 children have waited longer than 18 weeks for their diagnosis of autism (referred in 2022)
4. What are the longest three wait times for these children? 1 @ 147 days / 1 @ 136 days / 1 @ 130 days

QUESTION 2

1. How many children are currently waiting to receive a second assessment appointment? 10 children
2. What is the average wait time for these children to receive a second appointment, since their first appointment? Unable to answer this from data available and this is dependent on what the clinician recommends
3. What are the longest three wait times for these children, since their first appointment? As per answer above

QUESTION 3 Unable to provide a definitive answer to Q3 as stated in Q1a

1. How many children are currently waiting to receive a diagnosis (ie. waiting for an assessment outcome to find out whether they do or do not have ASD)? Unable to answer as stated in Q1a
2. What is the average wait time, since the point of initial referral? As above.
3. What are the longest three wait times for these children, since their initial referral?  As above

QUESTION 4 Unable to provide a definitive answer to this question as we have no way of recording the reason for referral and the Trust’s community team do not just receive referrals for children with suspected autism

1. In the year up to 31 March 2022, how many children with suspected autismreceived a first assessment appointment?
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a first assessment appointment, since their initial referral?
3. What were the longest three wait times for these children to receive a first diagnostic appointment, since their initial referral??

QUESTION 5 Unable to respond to Q5 without reviewing each patient individually as this data is not collated.

1. In the year up to 31 March 2022, how many children with suspected autismreceived a second assessment appointment?
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a second diagnostic appointment, since their first appointment? 
3. What were the longest three wait times for these children to receive a second assessment appointment, since their first appointment? 

QUESTION 6

1. In the year up to 31 March 2022, how many children with suspected autismreceived an ASD diagnosis? For those children referred 01/04/21 – 31/03/22 with a diagnosis of autism (unable to define children referred with suspected autism), 25 children received a 1^st appointment
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive an ASD diagnosis, since their initial referral? 191 days
3. What were the longest three wait times for these children to receive an ASD diagnosis, since their initial referral? 1 @ 371 days / 1 @ 363 days / 1 @ 341 days

QUESTION 7

1. In the year up to 31 March 2021, how many children with suspected autismreceived a first assessment appointment?  We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a first assessment appointment, since their initial referral?

QUESTION 8

1. In the year up to 31 March 2021, how many children with suspected autismreceived a second assessment appointment?  We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a second diagnostic appointment, since their first appointment? 

QUESTION 9

1. In the year up to 31 March 2021, how many children with suspected autismreceived an ASD diagnosis? We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive an ASD diagnosis, since their initial referral? 

QUESTION 10

1. In the year up to 31 March 2020, how many children with suspected autismreceived a first assessment appointment?  We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a first assessment appointment, since their initial referral?

QUESTION 11

1. In the year up to 31 March 2020, how many children with suspected autismreceived a second assessment appointment? We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a second diagnostic appointment, since their first appointment? 

QUESTION 13

1. In the year up to 31 March 2020, how many children with suspected autismreceived an ASD diagnosis? We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive an ASD diagnosis, since their initial referral? 

QUESTION 14

1. In the year up to 31 March 2019, how many children with suspected autismreceived a first assessment appointment? We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a first assessment appointment, since their initial referral?

QUESTION 15

1. In the year up to 31 March 2019, how many children with suspected autismreceived a second assessment appointment? We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive a second diagnostic appointment, since their first appointment? 

QUESTION 16

1. In the year up to 31 March 2019, how many children with suspected autismreceived an ASD diagnosis? We are unable to provide a response as this data is not collated.
2. What was the average wait time for these children to receive an ASD diagnosis, since their initial referral?