(UK) Wales: Powys special needs assessment wait at well over a year and longer

Oct 19, 2025, County Times: Autism diagnosis waits in Powys nearly double in two years

https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/25548750.autism-diagnosis-waits-powys-nearly-double-two-years

Powys Teaching Health Board confirmed that some children have waited more than 200 weeks for a diagnosis for conditions that lead to additional learning needs (ALN).

Data received by the County Times through a freedom of information request, the health board confirmed that the longest wait for a diagnosis of a neurodevelopment disorder since recording began 18 months ago was 222 weeks.

Powys Teaching Health Board said in this instance that the service user’s “failure to reply to contact to complete the assessment contributes to the waiting time”.

It was also revealed that the next longest waiting time for a diagnosis was 210 weeks.

The data showed that the median average waiting time for diagnosis was 57 weeks – which is well over a year.

Things were slightly better for adults where the longest wait for diagnosis was 21 months (91 weeks).

Over the past five years, this has led to 19 complaints to Powys Teaching Health Board about the waiting times for diagnosing additional learning needs.

A spokesperson for Powys Teaching Health Board said: “Unfortunately, a high number of children and adults are waiting longer than we would like for an assessment, and we recognise that this can be very difficult for the individual concerned along with parents and carers.

“This is not a unique challenge in Powys and is a national issue across the UK. Increased awareness of neurodevelopmental conditions has led to rising demand for assessment, which in turn has affected waiting times.

“Work is under way across the NHS to address this, and a key priority for the health board with our partners is to develop the right model of care to meet current and future demand.”