HSE bids to end 'postcode lottery' for autism assessment

The HSE is seeking an independent body to analyse how long it takes for assessments to be conducted, what interventions are given, and the experience of children, adults and families engaging with the system. File photo

The HSE has commissioned a review of how it delivers autism assessments in Ireland in a bid to reduce waiting lists and ensure access to assessment isn’t a “postcode lottery”.

It is seeking an independent body to analyse how long it takes for assessments to be conducted, what interventions are given, and the experience of children, adults and families engaging with the system. It comes as the Government faces calls to address the challenges faced by families accessing education and healthcare for a child with autism. 

The Irish Examiner reported in May that families of children with autism face “unprecedented barriers” in securing access to assessments and diagnosis. The HSE wants this piece of research to address a number of issues facing families and adults engaging with such services.

This includes a standardised assessment approach agreed for all services involved in the assessment and identification of autism. It also is seeking a “site-by-site analysis” or benchmarking report.

It also wants the report to achieve:

• All staff dealing with the assessment of those with who may have autism will be trained in the tools / resources included in the Standardised Assessment Approach.
• Waiting times for those awaiting assessment will be similar in different areas and therefore reduced in many areas.
• Interventions will occur earlier than was previously the case.
• Assessment and intervention will be clear.
• Equitable access to assessment for all will be achieved regardless of location.

It wants a final version of this report to be completed by March 2023. 

A review of how the health service addresses the needs of those with autism spectrum disorder was ordered by then-health minister Simon Harris in May 2017. That review identified a range of concerns parents had about the supports for their children. 

It also identified – from service users and the staff who provide services - how pathways to such services for people with autism in Ireland were “unclear, confusing and difficult to navigate”. Last week, an Oireachtas committee heard how families are being pushed into poverty to pay for private assessments for their children while they remain on lengthy HSE waiting lists.

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“Too many people are forced to access private services at an enormous personal and family cost, which push many people towards poverty,” Adam Harris, chief executive of charity AsIAm, said.

Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll-MacNeill told the same committee she was “beyond embarrassed” at the HSE responses to parents’ requests for supports for their children.

The Government is progressing an Autism Innovation Strategy which, according to Junior Minister Anne Rabbitte, will “influence the establishment of a best practice model of service delivery, assessment, diagnosis and intervention for persons with autism”.

A draft of that strategy will be published “as soon as possible following consideration of all consultation responses”, she said earlier this month.