The Hidden Crisis: Waiting Times for Neurodivergent Children in the UK

There is a growing, often invisible crisis in the UK’s health system: the long and deeply unequal waiting times for neurodivergent children to access assessment and mental health support. For many families, getting a diagnosis or therapeutic help feels like an endless wait — and this delay can have serious consequences.

Why Waiting Times Matter

A neurodivergent diagnosis (for example, ADHD or autism) is more than a label. It can unlock vital support: tailored education plans, therapeutic services, adjustments in school, and legal protections. But when diagnosis is delayed, children can struggle for years, missing critical opportunities and accumulating stress.

Moreover, when mental health support via CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) is also slow to come, children facing emotional distress or crisis may deteriorate while they wait, for around 2 years!

I truly believe that if my daughter had been assessed and given medication earlier, when we first raised concerns about ADHD, our situation could have been completely different. We were added to a waiting list without being told it would take six years. By the time we had been waiting three, she had already reached crisis point. Her mental health had collapsed, she could no longer attend school, and she was in total burnout.

We eventually felt we had no choice but to pay for a private assessment. She was diagnosed with both ADHD and autism, but by then, it was far too late. She had already developed an addiction to self-harm and had made attempts on her life. If she had been assessed at age nine, when we first raised concerns, instead of being left waiting for years, things could have been so different.

And then there’s CAMHS. A two-year waiting list for eight sessions. Eight. It’s unbelievable. Yet if a child attempts to end their life, suddenly there’s a two-week wait - still too long when your child’s life in in danger, but if that same child doesn’t instantly engage, isn’t given time to build trust or form a relationship, they’re discharged by week two. It’s beyond frustrating; it’s heartbreaking.

So yes, I feel incredibly bitter about a system that is completely broken. We were failed so badly that I almost lost my child. And we are far from alone, there are thousands of families with similar stories, all describing how their children have been let down by the services meant to protect them.

This is my personal experience. It may not be the same for everyone.

What are your experiences of this? How long did you wait? Could things have been different if the wait was shorter?