There could be more than 400 children waiting for an autism diagnosis by the time a full service is rolled out in April next year.
However, the Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said it hoped to implement short term measures to clear a backlog of more than 200 in the next seven months.
100s waiting over two years
Lengthy delays implementing a service means hundreds of children have been waiting over two years for a diagnosis.
The CCG has secured an interim service with provider Psicon Ltd, which has committed to undertaking and completing 150 assessments by March 2019.
200 cases cleared by March 2019
The CCG has also secured a pilot with Helios Ltd to deliver 50 online autism assessments commencing September 2018.
The CCG said it anticipated 200 cases will be cleared by March 2019.
One provider, which was approached by the CCG to take on the contract, said it had to turn it down as it could not cope with the scale required — 15 assessments a week.
The provider said:
“The high number of assessments in the short term meant we could not provide the service as a single provider.”
Recruitment issues
In a report, due to be seen by the CCG board next Thursday, concerns have been raised about the insufficient capacity in the short-term to clear the waiting list by the end of March.
The Trust service may be further delayed due to issues in recruiting.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some additions by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Jesper Sehested under CC BY 2.0
