Dr. Amir Niazi:

If a child has a primary diagnosis relating to mental health, he or she is referred directly to CAMHS. We do the initial assessment, and if during that assessment a consultant or the team is not clear if there is comorbid autism, they even sometimes do that assessment themselves for diagnostic clarity in order that they are clear what they are dealing with. If, however, the primary diagnosis is autism, referral normally goes to our disability colleagues and primary care. That is where it starts. If there is comorbid mental ill health, we get a referral. In this protocol we are saying that if disability services have assessed somebody as having autism, whether under an in-reach model, whereby they work together and do that assessment, or after autism assessment is completed, the person is referred to CAMHS for follow-up. Both those things are being looked at on our pilot sites.