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NHS bodies have imposed a two-year minimum wait for assessments as demand for diagnosis soars.
There are many benefits to raising awareness for neurodevelopmental conditions. The taboos that kept thousands suffering in silence have significantly decreased in the UK, and support is more readily available than ever before. But besides there still being significant room for improvement in the neurodevelopmental care sector, the growing demand for diagnosis of conditions – particularly ADHD and autism – has placed a strain on the National Health Service.
Now NHS bodies are forcing those with suspected ADHD and autism to wait at least two years before they can be assessed for the conditions. Four NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) have said they cannot afford the cost of the number of assessment people are seeking.
But patient groups have pushed back on what they deem ‘scandalous’ delays that could damage children’s chances of succeeding early in life. The charity ADHD UK denounced the minimum waits as ‘heartless and dangerous’.
15 ICBs, which cover 19 million people in England, have introduced the rationed assessments as a means of handling the huge rise in demand. Mel Merrit, Head of Policy and Influencing at the National Autistic Society, responded to the news alongside comments from the parents of autistic children.
‘Restricting access to autism assessments denies people support because, while it shouldn’t be the case, a diagnosis is needed to get help. For children, this can mean years of wasted school while they wait for an assessment and further waits to get a plan for support and adjustments to be put into place,’ Merrit said on the National Autistic Society’s website.
Imagine being told the wait for an NHS autism/ADHD assessment is 4 years.
So you empty your savings to go private because you can’t put your life on hold.
Then you’re told the NHS won’t prescribe because the diagnosis wasn’t theirs.
People are forced to go private, then…
— MAJOR (@Squeeze1i) July 5, 2026
‘Autistic people experience some of the starkest inequalities in our society. They are three times more likely to die by suicide than non-autistic people, twice as likely to be excluded from school than non-SEND students and only three in 10 autistic people are in work, one of the lowest employment rates.’
Rosalyn, a mother to autistic daughter Imogen, said that a five-and-half-year wait for an assessment and diagnosis led to significant deterioration in her child’s mental health.
‘And we waited. And we waited. I kept emailing every few months to say ‘Where is she?’ And they would say ‘Oh, it’s a 12-month waiting list’. And then after a year: ‘It’s an 18-month waiting list’. And then: ‘It’s a 24-month waiting list’, Rosalyn told The Guardian.
‘Getting a diagnosis is important,’ she added. ‘It is helpful to understand who you are.’ It also drastically affects the level of support individuals have access to. ‘Quite a lot of doors are shut to you if you don’t have a diagnosis.’
