A County Durham mum says her family is living "in a state of purgatory" as her three children face lengthy waits for autism or ADHD assessments.
Nicola Bulmer's children are among the 16,765 people in the North East with open referrals for suspected autism - a figure which has more than doubled since October 2021 when there were 8,260 open referrals, according to a report published earlier this month.
Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that nobody should wait for more than 13 weeks between being referred and first being seen. Yet the vast majority of people in the North East – up to 98% in some areas – are waiting longer than that, according to figures from NHS England.
