What consideration has the Welsh Government given to setting a waiting time policy or target for adults who require an autism diagnosis?
Our priority is to improve all-age, outcomes-focused reporting, to better understand the needs of neurodivergent individuals, and on which to build further service improvement and reduce waiting times.
The Welsh Government published a Statutory Code of Practice on the Delivery of Autism Services in September 2021 – a Programme for Government commitment. It includes duties for health boards and local authorities in relation to monitoring and data collection and we fund the National Neurodivergence Team to support the delivery of the code, and to promote Wales as a neurodivergent friendly nation.
To expand support beyond autism to other neurodivergent conditions, such as ADHD and Tourette’s syndrome and make much-needed improvements to services, we launched the Neurodivergence Improvement Programme, supported by £12m up to March 2025. It focuses on reducing waiting times for assessments for adults and children, improving service experiences for neurodivergent individuals and adopting a whole-system approach to meet needs early, reducing reliance on diagnostic referrals.
To ensure sustainable future neurodivergence service provision, we believe there is a need for robust national data on prevalence, service specific demand and outcomes for the neurodivergent population of Wales. Knowing how well services are operating is key to identifying where we can deliver improvements. We are driving this work through the Neurodivergence Improvement Programme.