Good Afternoon

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.

ADHD Team

1. Are patients on the waiting list prioritised in any way other than a simple “first in first out” system -Patients awaiting assessment are recorded in date order for data purposes. The assessment appointments are allocated according to both date and urgency. Patients awaiting assessment will be allocated appointments considering aspects of risk, complexity, social and emotional factors and also education and employment factors. There are also appointments allocated according to the request of CMHT and other agencies according to need.

2. Are patients as a matter of course provided with a comparison of waiting times between NHS and Right to Choose options?- Under right to choose people can liase with many different assessment providers and we have no means of accessing their waiting times.

3. Are patients provided with an update on waiting times such as when there is a significant degradation in wait. – People are informed of an estimated wait time at the point of referal and on contacting the service.

4. The average (mean) time in weeks from referral to diagnosis – 93 weeks – (this has been taken by our manual recording of assessments , the data taken by actual recording of diagnosis on PARIS may deviate )

5. The current number of patients referred to the service but still awaiting first appointment. - Patients are seen for holistic assessment via the Access Service or CMHT before onward referral to ADHD team. Patients with other comorbid needs or concerns are all seen in interim to assessment via CMHT, PCP, primary care psychological therapy services . If someone awaiting assessment has other needs they are addressed by such services. There are currently 1261 people identified as awaiting ADHD assessment

6. The longest time in weeks that a patient has currently been waiting for assessment since receipt of referral -.3 years 3 weeks

7. How do these waiting times compare with the national and regional picture – we have no firm data but regularly attend regional/national networking sessions with other ADHD clinicians and all services report to have wait times in excess of 2 to 3 years due to the increased referral rates

Whilst question 7 is not something we can answer and something for the requester to calculate themselves would you be able to and be ok supplying responses for questions 1-6? We could assist with questions 4-6 if there's any information you need or logic you can provide to help with these.

ASD Team

1. Are patients on the waiting list prioritised in any way other than a simple “first in first out” system –
-Patients awaiting assessment are recorded in date order. We would initially offer consultation to TEWV staff to offer support but some cases need to be expedited. The assessment appointments are allocated according to both date and urgency. Patients awaiting assessment will be allocated appointments considering aspects of risk, complexity, social and emotional factors.
2. Are patients as a matter of course provided with a comparison of waiting times between NHS and Right to Choose options? Under right to choose people can of course liase with different assessment providers and they are informed of this. Unfortunately we do not have a means of accessing their waiting times.
3. Are patients provided with an update on waiting times such as when there is a significant degradation in wait. - Not as standard, however they are regularly seen by the CMHT so they can ask for updates at any time.
4. The average (mean) time in weeks from referral to diagnosis - 93 weeks (this is from referral to discharge meaning they would have also engaged in impact work and received a report).
5. The current number of patients referred to the service but still awaiting first appointment - 771 people on our waiting list.
6. The longest time in weeks that a patient has currently been waiting for assessment since receipt of referral. - The team are currently seeing referrals made in August 2019 (approximately 142 weeks).
7. How do these waiting times compare with the national and regional picture – We do not gather this information, but this information can be accessed via https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-informat...

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Susan Chamberlain
Personal Assistant
Corporate Affairs & Involvement
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust West Park Hospital Edward Pease Way Darlington DL2 2TS
Email – [email address]

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