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Publication, Part of

Autism Statistics, January to December 2022

Publication Date:
9 Mar 2023
Date Range:
01 Jan 2022 to 31 Dec 2022

Current Chapter

Autism Statistics, January to December 2022

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Methodology

We have noticed an error in the way the following measures were produced after MHSDS version 5 resulting in an overcount of these figures. This issue has been fixed and the corrected data can be found within the data files on the publication pages below:

 

MEASURE_ID

MEASURE_NAME

ASD18

Number of patients with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment in 13 weeks or less

ASD18a

Number of patients with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment after more than 13 weeks

ASD18b

Number of patients with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, that have not had a care contact appointment recorded

ASD18c

Number of patients aged 0 to 17 with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment in 13 weeks or less

ASD18d

Number of patients aged 18 and over with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment in 13 weeks or less

ASD18e

Number of patients aged 0 to 17 with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment after more than 13 weeks

ASD18f

Number of patients aged 0 to 17 with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, that have not had a care contact appointment recorded

ASD18g

Number of patients aged 18 and over with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment after more than 13 weeks

ASD18h

Number of patients aged 18 and over with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, that have not had a care contact appointment recorded

ASD19

Proportion of patients with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment in 13 weeks or less

ASD19a

Proportion of patients with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment after more than 13 weeks

ASD19b

Proportion of patients with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, that have not had a care contact appointment recorded

ASD19c

Proportion of patients aged 0 to 17 with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment in 13 weeks or less

ASD19d

Proportion of patients aged 18 and over with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment in 13 weeks or less

ASD19e

Proportion of patients aged 0 to 17 with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment after more than 13 weeks

ASD19f

Proportion of patients aged 0 to 17 with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, that have not had a care contact appointment recorded

ASD19g

Proportion of patients aged 18 and over with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, receiving a first appointment after more than 13 weeks

ASD19h

Proportion of patients aged 18 and over with an open "suspected autism" referral in the month, that has been open for at least 13 weeks, that have not had a care contact appointment recorded

 

Autism Statistics, April 2021 to March 2022 - NDRS (digital.nhs.uk)

Autism Statistics, April 2022 to March 2023 - NDRS (digital.nhs.uk)

20 July 2023 13:50 PM

Page contents

Summary

These statistics present a group of measures on waiting times for autism spectrum disorder diagnostic pathways, based on the time between a referral for suspected autism and the first care contact associated with that referral.

There are also multiple breakdowns based on the progression and outcomes of those referrals.

Each of these measures contributes to an overall picture of waiting times for diagnostic pathways. The approach is outlined in the methodology section of this publication.

Currently there are no national or Sub ICB figures included in this publication due to the cyber incident. This data has been added to a supplementary information page linked below due to the known issues with the data.

Impact of Cyber Incident on MHSDS data submissions

Although the impact on Performance June and July 2022 monthly data was quite limited, the impact on Performance August to December 2022 data is much more substantial. As such, national level breakdowns have been omitted for August to December 2022 data from all outputs that are part of this publication. It was not considered appropriate to publish national level Performance August to December 2022 data at present, given that these data are not an accurate reflection of activity for these months.

Data at Provider and Local Authority level data are, however, still included within this publication.  Comparisons between providers not impacted by the cyber incident are still valid, as are comparisons between Performance August to December 2022 data and that of previous months for any given non-cyber incident impacted provider.

We will continue to monitor this situation with regards to subsequent months’ publications. No changes to submission processes will be introduced while service providers are actively dealing with this issue.

Providers also have the opportunity to resubmit MHSDS data for any month between April 2022 and February 2023, up until the final 2022/23 multiple submission window model (MSWM) deadline in May 2023, and this should serve to further mitigate the issue. This will then feed into the 'End of Year Final' data made available shortly afterwards. 

It is expected that 'End of Year Final' data will include a complete set of breakdowns for every month of 2022/23, including national level data.

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Data for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is known to be incorrect in this publication. Due to circumstances outside of Mersey Care’s control this error has meant that data from April 2022 to January 2023 is now incorrect. As a result of this, data for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust only includes those referrals to IPS services and no other activity. NHS England are working with Mersey Care to try and resolve the situation. This issue has meant that many national level metrics have reduced and data for the Sub ICBs around Cheshire and Merseyside should be treated with extreme caution. We are expecting this issue to be resolved in time for next months MHSDS monthly publication (January performance 2023 data) or for the Autism Waiting Times data, in the next publication in June. Figures for December will likely be restated as part of the end of year refresh.

Autism assessments for children and adolescents happen in two types of NHS service, child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) services and community paediatric services which undertake neurodevelopmental assessment. Activity in CAMH services is reported alongside adult mental healthcare activity in the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) and is included in this report. Activity in community paediatric services is reported through the Community Services Dataset (CSDS). Currently autism assessments are not clearly identifiable in CSDS and so cannot be included at present.

We are exploring developments in the identification of this activity in the CSDS with the intention of including this activity in future reports.

Waiting time from referral to care contact dashboard

Open the interactive dashboard

This tool is in Microsoft Power BI which does not fully support all accessibility needs. If you need further assistance, please contact us for help.

Issue with CCG/Sub ICB Location breakdowns

An issue was identified with the CCG/Sub ICB Location breakdowns causing there to be multiple records for UNKNOWN. No other data are affected by this issue. This has now been rectified and updated files published.

NHS England apologises for any inconvenience caused.

Last edited: 20 July 2023 1:50 pm