The Progressive Catholic Church Says That Autism Services Should Be Rolled Out On Nationwide Basis

The Progressive Catholic Church notes that much work has been undertaken in recent years to improve autism services and support for people with autistic spectrum conditions, their families and carers. We further note that the strategic action plan on autism recognises the need for better diagnostic services for children and adults with autism spectrum conditions, it does not provide this in all areas.

The PCC is making it their policy that autism services should be rolled out on a nationwide basis and not the postcode lottery that is currently being proposed where by it is rolled out on a stage by stage basis, meaning that some people have to wait to access services.

We’re calling for a reduction in waiting times which is 13 weeks from the point of the GP referral to first appointment for diagnostic assessment. We are concerned by the current waiting times for diagnostic appointments and have heard of waiting times of up to 7 years which we deem to be unacceptable and call upon the Governments of the UK to look at how they can improve on this and introduce the 13 week guideline as a benchmark standard.

We further believe that actual legislation is better than strategic action plans as there is no statutory duty to adhere to anything set out in such an action plan, whereas if it were enshrined in an act of legislation then there is legal duty to adhere to a code of practice. Furthermore it requires the monetary resources to made available and for it to be protected so that it cannot be spent on anything else apart from its intended purpose as set out in our autism paper.

The Progressive Catholic Church is supporting calls for The Autism Act (Wales) to be bought forward to the devolved Parliament and placed on the statute book to bring it into the line with England, Scotland and Ireland. We also support the autism bill as it will give children and young people the best chance of achieving the highest standard of educational attainment, and we believe that the current special educational needs system does not take into account the needs of children and young people who are on the autistic spectrum.

We further support the use and development of teacch based resources for autistic people in everyday life and are currently committed to campaigning for this to become a recognised resource just as braille is for blind people.

*From Bishop Ryan Cleminson of The Progressive Catholic Church PCC.