Plaid Cymru AM Lindsay Whittle has criticised services for people with autism services in Wales, describing them as patchy.
Speaking in a debate in the Senedd yesterday, January 21, the South Wales East AM, who speaks for Plaid on social services and equality, said: “There does not seem to be any monitoring by the Welsh Government of how local authorities are supporting people with autism.
“Services across Wales are patchy and the system of annual funding does not allow local authorities to plan services on a long-term basis. We need consistency across Wales so that people who suffer with autism are not subject to a postcode lottery.”
Mr Whittle said that he had received a letter from a parent of an autistic child attending a school in Caerphilly.
“On the face of it, it looks as though this particular pupil’s disorder is not being treated sympathetically by the school. This raises the question of how well teachers are trained to deal professionally with each autistic pupil’s individual and unique needs.”
Mr Whittle, who is a member of the Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee, went on: “People with autism don’t eventually grow out of it. It remains with them into old age and with an increasingly ageing population in Wales this is destined to become a serious challenge to the health and social care services. Yet I’m told by the National Autistic Society in Wales that there is very little recognition of the services available for older people with autism nor the skills and knowledge among health professionals to adequately support them.
“We need to include in an Autism Act a duty on local authorities to collect data on people over 65 with autism and use these figures to plan services. I know that some research has been carried out into the prevalence of autism in older people in Wales but we surely need a much wider survey so that the extent of the situation is known so that local authorities and health boards can plan accordingly.
“While we rightly focus most of our attention on the services available for children with autism, we ignore at our peril the needs of older people. It’s time for the Welsh Government to recognise their ongoing needs and to make sure that local authorities and health boards plan services for adults and particularly older people who will continue to suffer from autism.”