Most weeks I get the chance to visit a school, chat to parents and hear from NHS services. In these conversations everyone agrees that it’s good we are now more aware of conditions like autism and ADHD, but a recurring topic is the huge increase in diagnosis amongst children. So it prompts the question: what’s going on?
Parents across West Cumbria are doing everything they can to get help for their children. Many are battling long waits for assessments, hoping for answers. We are lucky that we have brilliant local organisations like Bee Unique who have stepped into the gap left by a SEND system in crisis.
Most people with experience of adolescent mental health services would agree that we’re facing a serious problem. There is a huge increase in diagnoses for milder cases that doesn’t come with meaningful support. And it is very often the children with the greatest needs who are suffering most as a result of an overwhelmed system.
Across England, the number of children diagnosed with autism has nearly doubled in the last five years. Teenage ADHD diagnoses are also rising sharply. Right now, around 400,000 children are stuck on NHS waiting lists for an autism or ADHD assessment and some are waiting more than two years. Diagnosis rates also vary dramatically depending on where you live and your socioeconomic background, raising uncomfortable questions about fairness and consistency.
Neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, in her recent book The Age of Diagnosis, warns that we are living through a time when lots of difficulties risk being framed as disorders. She argues that while diagnoses can be helpful, too often they are used to explain normal human experiences — sadness, restlessness, shyness — that don’t always need a medical label. The consequences of a diagnosis are not trivial. They can profoundly shape a child’s self-image, education pathway, and access to support. While for many children a diagnosis brings much-needed understanding and help, for others it may impose unnecessary limitations, fostering a belief that they are “disordered” rather than simply different.
None of this is to dismiss the reality of neurodevelopmental disorders. I have met too many families for whom an autism or ADHD diagnosis has been transformative. But we must strike a better balance.
We need a system that puts children’s needs first, not one that forces parents to chase a diagnosis just to unlock basic, or in some cases non-existent, support. I’m convinced that the answer lies somewhere in a mix of much more support for parents, new rules for the use of social media and smartphones by children, and more clubs and opportunities for children so they can grow, take risks and be included. And this needs to be on top of faster and more careful assessments within the NHS and better SEND support in schools.
As your MP, I am committed to fighting for these changes — locally and nationally. Our children’s futures are too important to leave to chance.
Josh MacAlister MP 