Suffolk Paediatrics Services

Although we tried to get our young child referred for an autism assessment by paediatrics as it was clearly obvious to us and other professionals that there are issues, we were told that he was too young for a referral to be made. At one point we were told there needed to be a medical need for the assessment. We've finally got the referral and there is now another 10-12 month wait which further delays him and our family getting support.

The assessment for speech and language was good but because there is such a long wait for support we have decided to go private to get the help needed. I was offered a course to hopefully be able to help my child while we wait. We've found that accessing any of the paediatric support is quite difficult and it's not been that helpful.

Very happy with the care provided by staff from the Allington clinic, the depth of care and support for our child has been very good. I've been very happy.

The team at St Helens House have been amazing. The support we've had from the OT's and speech and language has been great and so supportive. I can call at any time for advice and we've had Makaton support every 6 weeks.

We can't get a sensory assessment by OT the only offer is to have a 1 hour presentation/ workshop, which I've done before and had little benefit.

The support provided by the different paediatric teams is not great, they're just not proactive, its all just a little light touch and doesn't really benefit us in many ways but takes time to when we are busy enough with other health appointments.

It's quite common for those that can afford it to pay privately for additional speech and language and OT support as the support available through community services is so limited. The value of the advice and the support has not been of a great standard and as a parent when you want the best for your child and the service doesn't really add value and actually takes time to attend the appointments, there seems little point but if you then say it's not worth attending in a polite way you're then told you'll be discharged which complicates things considerably when you then need help and advice with issues that come up. Parents shouldn't feel they are forced to remain engaged if there is little benefit to the child.

Our child gets to see them so infrequently for speech and language support that they really only assess at each visit and say continue with what you're doing, there's nothing proactive about the service and is limited in the impact they actually have.

Even though my child is non verbal the amount of support being provided is very limited.

This feedback is in relation to the assessment appointment we had recently and not about the issues we had actually getting it!
We saw a new Pediatrician for a second appointment where they had said they may be able to provide a diagnosis. This was achieved at this appointment and I felt assured that things were done thoroughly. The things I feel could be improved, is the room itself. It is not very engaging for a child who is potentially on the spectrum. The waiting area has a sensory wall, and I feel they are missing a trick not having those kinds of things in rooms to really engage a child and see them in a fuller sense. Sitting a child in a white room at a small table on a hard chair to talk to someone they do not know is not going to give a true picture of the child as they will not be at ease at all. If these are specialists in this area, I would think that they would be able want a better environment than that.
The pediatrician was patient and kind to us both. I felt they had read the reports in advance that had been sent in along with the previous report from the first appointment we had had with a different pediatrician.