Ms ?ine Lawlor:

That leads into waiting lists. We all know there are hugely significant waiting lists for services but the point is around access. Children and adults, where there are services, are faced with barriers getting into them. Parents, children and adults who are trying to find the right service for them are being moved around from service to service. There needs to be signposting and ease of access to services. We have pockets of services that work very well and we have excellent skills clinicians who can provide fantastic services but it is about how families and people who have autism get to them. That is the challenge. There is huge inequity across the services and that has only been exacerbated through PDS. The other issue with some services is that, because of the redesign and the lack of formal structures that were put in place, lots of services are now trying to design how they manage the service and the waiting list. Some of that is good. There is innovation and pieces happening that bring down waiting lists but that is not happening at a national or a strategic level. It is further impacting children and their families trying to get to services. That is not even taking into account what happens to young people when they turn 18 and the lack of services for adults with autism.