NHS Devon has successfully increased the number of clinics and appointments available for autism, the health provider has said.

Responsible for the majority of county’s NHS budget, NHS Devon have been working with local health providers to ensure that children and young people, who are waiting for an autism assessment, receive this as soon as possible.

And the organisation says it has successfully increased the number of clinics and appointments available.

Additional staff members have been brought in to aid both business support functions and clinic operations, ensuring that more patients are seen without compromising care quality, NHS Devon has said.

It says that services are working together to do a joint assessments for children waiting for assessments on more than one neurodevelopmental pathways.

It has also said that it is holding additional clinics, including out of hours clinics.

In an update about how the project is going, Children and Family Health Devon said: ‘Where there are several children in the same school waiting for an assessment, we will work with the SENCO to start the diagnostic process at the same time.

‘This means that observations and reviews can be undertaken for many children in one location in the same day.

‘This has been trialled in two schools and will be reviewed and rolled out in other schools.

‘Where children are known to more than one service, providers are working together to collate relevant information and identify where further consultation or assessments are required to make a diagnostic decision.

‘While positive progress has been made, NHS Devon and health providers are committed to continuing this work and are focused on reducing waiting lists.

‘Our goal is to ensure that those waiting for an autism assessment have access to the care they need, when they need it.’