AQW 43359/22-27

Miss Nuala McAllister
Alliance Party
North Belfast

Tabled Date: 26/03/2026
Answered On Date: 10/06/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health for an update on the number of children awaiting an autism assessment, in each Health and Social Care Trust.

Answer:

Validation of encompass reporting is continuing and the information provided is sourced from Trust manual returns and is not official statistics.

HSC Trusts have provided the following responses;

At 31 January 2026 the number of children waiting for ASD assessment in NHSCT was 5250.

At 31 January 2026 the number of children waiting for ASD assessment in SEHSCT was 2620.

At 28 February 2026 the number of children waiting for ASD assessment in BHSCT was 4975.

At 28 February 2026 the number of children waiting for ASD assessment in SHSCT was 1934.

At 31 March 2026 the number of children waiting for ASD assessment in WHSCT was 2837.