During a Stormont debate on the needs of those suffering from autism TUV MLA, Jim Allister, hit out at the excessive delays in sufferers being assessed, with over 900 waiting beyond the promised 13 week limit. Mr Allister linked this to the disproportionate lack of trained clinicians in the Northern Trust area, revealing it only has 11 out of a province-wide total of 68.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
I commend the sponsors of the motion for bringing this important subject to the House, and I compliment Mr Bradley on his work in leading the all-party group on autism. This is an issue that many of us, as constituency Members, are discovering is a far more deep-seated and widespread issue than we had ever realised. In my five years running a constituency office as a Member of this House, I have noticed an increasing volume of parents disaffected by the treatment or lack of assistance that they have been getting in the education system and, indeed, in the health system, in respect of kids on the very wide spectrum of autism, which is excessively wide indeed. The tragedy is that, in years gone by, many of those kids, who, with the right treatment and support, can do quite well, and the same goes for kids with dyslexia, were simply written off as stupid, which was neither fair then nor fair now. That which can be done we most certainly need to do.
The primary point that I want to make in the debate is the great disparity in facilities across the Province. There is something of a postcode lottery because I asked the sometimes Health Minister some questions about autism, and we talked this morning about the scandalous delays that some 900 people are waiting beyond the promised 13 weeks, and some have been waiting for a year. A contributor to that is to establish where the clinicians are located who can deal with those referrals.
I was amazed to discover, in this answer from Mr Hamilton, that, although the Northern is the largest health and social care trust in Northern Ireland, it has only 11 of the total of 68 clinicians trained to diagnose autism, whereas the Southern Trust has 23. A third of the total number of clinicians are in the Southern Trust but, in Belfast, there are only 11, in the Northern,11, in the South Eastern, only nine, and in the Western, only 14. Without equality of distribution of clinicians to diagnose autism, the postcode lottery kicks in. That is why, in the northern area — relating this to education — when the North Eastern Education and Library Board existed, it advised me that, in the year 2012-13 for example, there was a total of 456 requests for statements in respect of those who were believed to be suffering from autism.
Mr McKinney: Will the Member give way?
Mr Allister: Yes.
Mr McKinney: Does the Member agree that, in some cases, this could amount to individual trusts abdicating responsibility for dealing with these issues, and that it has a further effect because it leads to lengthening queues in neighbouring trust areas and causes further frustration for those involved?
Mr Allister: The Member may well be right, but one thing is very clear. When you examine the figures for people who, for example, seek a statement in respect of educational needs, you find that the success rate for those who come with referral from the medical experts — the clinicians — is far greater than for those who come with a referral simply from the school. It is quite clear that you need the support of a clinician to give your child in the best possible chance of obtaining a statement. If there is a dearth of clinicians, then you are waiting longer to get to that point. Maybe a whole school year could be lost for that child which, at that tender age, is a vital component in the ability of that child to catch up and perform to the optimum of their potential.
What perhaps distressed me most about the answer from the sometime Minister is that, having acknowledged the dearth of clinicians and said in the answer that,
“The current number of clinicians trained to diagnose autism is not sufficient to meet overall demand”,
he goes on to finish the answer by saying that
“given the current financial constraints no further investment has been identified to meet this need”.
The sometimes Minister knows of the problem and its ramifications and yet, plugging the gap that obviously exists is not a priority. In particular — for someone who represents an area covered by the Northern Trust— it is a priority to bring some equality of opportunity to that area, and others that are affected, to make sure that there are enough trained clinicians to diagnose, because that is the starting point for the treatment of any of these children.