Autism: West Dorset

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including support services for autistic people, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines. The NICE guideline, Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management, aims to improve access and engagement with interventions and services, and the experience of care, for autistic adults.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to improve outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance will help ICBs and the National Health Service to improve outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance sets out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism, based on the available evidence. This includes setting out specific considerations for developing post-diagnostic support.

The Dorset ICB advises that it has conducted an all-age review of services for people with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, and is currently working through the outcomes of that review, including in relation to assessment, diagnosis, and pre- and post-diagnostic support. In the meantime, the ICB has identified additional funding to increase capacity for additional appointments for those that have waited the longest. The ICB has also recently launched an online neurodiversity hub.