Published on 12, July, 2020
I’m very desperate now.
I have been dealing with the challenging behaviour of my 33 month old now for over 12 months. I asked health visitor for help twice but was told to wait until he was 3yrs. 3 months after me raising concerns his behaviour becomes so very challenging that his nursery raises concerns too as he is harming staff as well as other children.
Health visitor finally comes to see his behaviour for herself and makes a referral. (Speech and language, hearing tests and educational doctor) I have waited 3 months now and heard nothing from the nhs.
Can I ask how long did you wait for a first appointment?
My son has recently started going to bed late and waking through the night (gone from 12 hours sleep to 6 hours sleep) which is making his behaviour all the more difficult.
i guess it’s maybe a postcode lottery?
I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through! Also very shocked that the Health visitor hasn't put a referral through sooner! I would have thought that if there were significant concerns then they should have done something a lot sooner!
I think how long you wait for an appointment will depend on a number of factors including but not limited to the demand on services in your area and the presence or not of other developmental delays.
We waited 4 1/2 months for my youngest daughters Autism assessments to start, from when her Paediatrician referred her. She had her first Assessment yesterday.
Would it be worth telephoning the various departments to ask where he is on the waiting list and how long he will have to wait to be seen? At least if you have an idea of the time frame it might help?
Also, maybe phone the helpline on this website to see if they can give you any advice for managing behaviour?
https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/about-us/contact-us.aspx
Hi Kitsun. Thanks for the useful advice. How do you actually find out the telephone number of the various departments to query on the waiting list? I really want to do that but I have no idea where to start?
I'm really glad that you have more of an idea about how long you will be waiting for the appointment. Do you feel a bit better for knowing? Will your HV offer any extra support now that she knows you are struggling?
my hv called on my behalf when she realised that I was really struggling now. She said referral goes through a vetting process first then appointment allocated within 12 weeks. She told me that the vetting process was passed and appointment allocated within 6 weeks. She also said you can put your name down to be on standby for a cancellation appointment at short notice (same or next day)
Your local Hospital should have a main number which is basically a switch board, they should be able to provide you with the numbers for different departments, including those not located in the Hospital as they are all part of the same Healthcare Trust.