Publication, Part of Autism Waiting Time Statistics
Autism Statistics, April 2023 to March 2024
Experimental statistics, Official statistics in development
Sub-ICB, ICB and Region breakdowns
We have identified an issue with the sub-ICB, ICB and Region breakdowns affecting all financial years up to and including April 2023 to March 2024. This issue means the figures in the "Unknown" group are much higher than they should be.
These breakdowns within the historic csv files available under 'Resources' below should be disregarded at present.
Sub-ICB, ICB and Region breakdowns are available for the most up to date reporting period (April 2024 to March 2025) within the most up date release of this publication, available at
Autism Statistics, April 2024 to March 2025
NHS England apologises for any inconvenience.
4 June 2025 11:29 AM
Issue with waiting time metrics – November 2024
We have identified a methodological issue with the calculation of the waiting time metrics resulting in an overcount in some metrics and an undercount in others. A fix has been implemented and a revised set of data has been provided using the updated methodology for all historical time periods.
This is available on the following publication page (latest as at the time of this change notice)
Autism Statistics, July 2023 to June 2024
All subsequent publications will also contain revised data in respect of historical time periods.
Please refer to either this publication or a subsequent one for the revised data
Below are the affected metrics:
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
NHS England apologises for any inconvenience caused.
6 November 2024 09:30 AM
Methodology
Analytical approach
There is one main approach to autism waiting time statistics published here, contributing to an overall picture of the experience of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnostic pathways.
The analysis takes the latest record of all referrals where the reason for the referral is suspected autism. For each month in the reporting period, we look at whether the referral was new, open at any point or closed in the month.
Waiting time to care contact approach
For waiting times, we use the referrals for suspected autism which were open within the month. We then look at the date of the first attended care contact related to those referrals if one has occurred. The waiting time taken here is the time from initial referral to the first care contact.
More detailed descriptions of the analysis undertaken can be found on the construction page of this publication, found here.
These statistics are based on the information collected from the Mental Health Services Dataset. Further detail on the information captured within the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) is available here.
Access the code used to create this report
From September 2023, the code used to create the outputs for this report is available on our NHS Digital GitHub webpage.
Last edited: 4 June 2025 11:29 am