In County Durham, a project during 2024 looked at how to support people before and after they have an autism assessment. The goal was to find ways to help more people and their families while they wait for their assessment.
We asked two groups of people:
- People already using the service
- People waiting for an assessment
We wanted to know what support would have helped while waiting, and what people thought about the help they got.
How we listened
Staff from the support services helped us design the questions. This helped make sure they were easy to understand and covered the right kinds of support. Everyone on the waiting list or already getting help was asked to share their views — either by filling in a form online or by speaking with staff on the phone.
We wanted to know:
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What is working well?
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What difference has support made?
Listening to feedback
People using the service said:
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The staff were friendly and helpful
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They liked getting regular updates
People still waiting said:
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They were worried about how long they would have to wait
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They wanted help to look after their mental and emotional health
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They wanted clear information about what was happening
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They wanted help to understand autism and their own needs
This feedback helped the team make a new plan to improve the service in the future. The range of support has also been expanded. So that more support is being provided to people while they are waiting for their assessment. You can find further information about these conversations and the feedback we heard in the summary engagement report.