AQW 28699/22-27


Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford


Tabled Date: 13/06/2025
Answered On Date: 30/06/2025
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail on the number of children awaiting an ADHD assessment in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in each of the last ten years, broken down by (i) how many have been waiting (a) less than one year; (b) more than one year; (c) two years; (d) three years; (e) four years; (f) five years; and (g) over six years; and (ii) how many children were moved off the waiting list as they had become adults.


Answer:
Health and Social care Trusts follow the Integrated Elective Access Protocol (IEAP), to manage autism referrals. IEAP is a regional guidance document issued by the DHSSPS, updated in June 2020.
(i) Table 1 below details on the number of children awaiting an
ADHD assessment in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust in each of the last ten years, broken down by years waiting as requested.
Within the South Eastern H&SC Trust, there are a number of children who may be awaiting assessment for ADHD who are on the Autism Neuro-developmental waiting list, this is a list for children and young people who are being assessed for Autism, but based on referral information have an increased level of complexity; this may be due to trauma and or possible ADHD presentation.
Table 1.
Wait List- Year End (31 March)
< 1 year
> 1 year
> 2 years
> 3 years
> 4 years
> 5 years
> 6 years
TOTAL
2015/16
113
 
 
 
 
 
 
113
2016/17
143
<5
 
 
 
 
 
144
2017/18
196
11
 
 
 
 
 
207
2018/19
227
229
 
 
 
 
 
456
2019/20
21
498
<5
 
 
 
 
520
2020/21
354
113
 
 
 
 
 
467
2021/22
456
155
611
2022/23
423
342
<5
 
 
 
 
766
2023/24*
567
498
10
 
 
 
 
1075
2024/25*
582
652
377
<5
 
 
 
1613
(ii) The South Eastern H&SC Trust does not remove young people from the new patient ADHD waiting list because they have turned 18years of age; one consultant will see and assess these young people if they choose to remain on the Children’s services waiting list. Young people, age 18 years or over would only be discharged from waiting list if they did not respond to partial booking letters, or did not attend an appointment.
Table 2 below shows the number of young people over 18 on the paediatric waiting list who did not respond to partial booking letters, or did not attend an appointment and therefore were discharged from the paediatric waiting list without completing an assessment.
Year
Young People over 18
2015/16
<5
2016/17
5
2017/18
<5
2018/19
<5
2019/20
<5
2020/21
<5
2021/22
0
2022/23
<5
2023/24*
 Not available
2024/25*
<5
*Due to the implementation of Encompass accurate figures are not obtainable due to data validation and data migration challenges