CHILDREN from the Bradford district who may be autistic have to wait nearly four times longer for initial assessments than national guidelines recommend, it has emerged.

Public Health England recommends children are seen within three months of referral.

But concerned parents living within the area covered by NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group face an average wait of 47 weeks.

Of the 190 children in current need of assessment, 148 have already waited for more than three months.

Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG has the longest wait from GP referral to initial expert assessment across Yorkshire, where a total of 2,026 children are waiting for their first meeting.

In areas covered by Bradford City and District CCGs, the length of the average wait for children to start autism assessment from referral to the autism team is approximately 33 weeks.

The average wait for children from raising concerns about social problems, language skills and behaviour issues to final diagnosis is more than three and a half years.

Margaret Nash, a link worker for support group the Airedale and Wharfedale Autism Resource, which is based in Ilkley, helps worried parents seeking advice.

“We have several members who have expressed concern about these delays and it is important to say that early intervention is key in helping a child with autism,” she said.

“These children are encountering difficulties every day and until a child gets a full diagnosis there is no statutory support in terms of classroom help and other assistance.

“We work a lot with Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG and they just don’t have the funding.

“It’s a small hospital with quite a large area and they just don’t have enough people.

“It all comes down to money.”

Dr Phil Pue, Chief Clinical Officer at NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We appreciate how frustrating and difficult this is for families.

“We are committed to reducing waiting times and have provided additional investment.

“However with an increase in autism awareness this has led to more referrals to health and social care services in the UK – not just for our region.

“Plans are in place which will help children and their families receive help and support much quicker. We hope to have the new service in place later this year.”

A spokesperson for NHS Bradford City and NHS Bradford Districts CCGs said: “We are working with our partners to review our commissioning arrangements for child development services, which autism services are part of, to see how waiting times can be improved for families and children.”