FOI Ref: 0005FOI1920

10^th April 2019

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request for Information

We are pleased to respond to your request for information and our response is set out below:

Request/ Response

... have recently embarked on a programme of research to gain a better understanding of parents’ experience of the autism pathway for children under the age of 5 years old. Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, we would therefore like to respectfully ask for information about the pathway in your locality. Could you please provide answers to the questions at the bottom of this e-mail. This information will only be used to inform our understanding of the autism landscape for very young children and to assist in our internal planning and programme design. It will not be published and, if used publicly (i.e. in a conference presentation) will not refer to individual CCGs by name.

Autism in the early years is an increasingly challenging area and we hope that, with this information, we will be able to support you in the future in this complex area of work.

Information requested:

Question 1- For a child under-5 with suspected autism in your CCG area, what is the duration in weeks or months from receipt of referral to a diagnosis appointment?

NHS Sheffield CCG does not commission autism assessment for children, please contact NHS England. Contact details - england.contactus@nhs.net (Please write “Freedom of Information” in the subject line).

Question 2 - What was the number of children aged 0 - 5 receiving a formal diagnosis of autism in your CCG area in the last full year for which records are available?

See response to Q1.

Question 3 – How many children aged 0-5 are currently on the waiting list for an ASD diagnostic assessment in your CCG area?

See response to Q1.

Question 4 – Does your CCG area have a local autism strategy group as recommended by the NICE guidelines (Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: recognition, referral and diagnosis).

Yes, Sheffield has an autism strategy group for children hosted by Sheffield City Council and attended by multiple organisations.