Our FOI requests

All four categories provided. Figures were given in days and converted to weeks by dividing by 7. Data as at 25 June 2026. Adult autism waiting list (21) is notably low.

In its response, NHS Borders stated that it does not routinely record ADHD or autism assessment waiting times electronically and has no digital medical records system, records are held on paper. Extracting the figures would require a manual trawl of every patient record, exceeding the £600 cost limit, so all four categories were refused under Section 12.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway responded under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, stating that waiting time data across all four assessment types is not held in a reportable format. The board additionally confirmed that there is no adult ADHD or autism assessment service. The response did not confirm whether a CAMHS (under 18) ADHD or autism pathway exists.

Adult ADHD and adult autism data refused under Section 12 (estimated cost £10,710 to extract around 8,570 records). CAMHS figures were provided: median wait 22 weeks (ADHD) and 89 weeks (autism). These cover all triaged cases from all referral routes, not GP referrals only.

No condition-specific ADHD or autism pathways. Adults are assessed through general community mental health teams (CMHTs) where they meet the criteria, a 12-week target for accepted referrals (a target, not an actual measured wait). Under-18s (CAMHS) use a 'Choice' appointment system: median 5 weeks, 431 waiting, covering all CAMHS referrals, not ADHD or autism specifically. All four requested categories were refused under Section 12.

Data is split across three areas (HSCPs) that run their services differently. Aberdeen City: adult ADHD 194 weeks / 1,823 waiting; adult autism 130 weeks / 1,838 waiting (Aberdeen City + Moray combined). Aberdeenshire: no adult ADHD or autism assessment service. Moray: adult ADHD waiting list inactive since September 2021 (the board's description), 567 on the list, no active service. Under-18s (CAMHS): 682 waiting for a first triage appointment across the board, combining all neurodevelopmental conditions, can't be split by ADHD or autism. A separate children's service has 2,220 waiting (49 weeks urgent / 70 weeks routine, mixed conditions).

All four categories provided, Scotland's largest board. Adults (ADHD): 8,886 waiting, median 111 weeks board-wide. Reported by area (HSCP), with Glasgow City by far the longest wait and largest queue at 4,907 waiting / 139 weeks (East Dunbartonshire 635/56, East Renfrewshire 582/67, Inverclyde 296/84, Renfrewshire 2,207/88, West Dunbartonshire 259/58). Adult figures cover all referral sources, not GP only. Adults (autism): 2,641 waiting, 65 weeks. Under-18s: run as one combined neurodevelopmental (ND) service. School-age waiting lists by referral reason, autism 4,921 (105 weeks from GP referral), ADHD 2,563 (120 weeks), combined ASD & ADHD 3,056 (111 weeks). Referral reason isn't mandatory and may differ from the final diagnosis, and children seen via CAMHS aren't counted, so these are likely underestimates. A separate pre-school autism pathway has 2,060 children waiting. Children first seen in June 2026 had waited a median of 90 weeks. Extract dates: adults 5 July, under-18s 1 July 2026.

Adult figures provided: adult ADHD median 38 weeks (433 waiting); adult autism median 127 weeks (443 waiting). The board notes it cannot tell from the data whether the first appointment was for screening, triage or assessment. Under-18s: under Section 17, NHS Highland does not hold aggregate CAMHS ADHD or autism waiting data. Children are not placed on the CAMHS list specifically for an ADHD or autism assessment; referrals must first meet CAMHS criteria. General CAMHS waits are published by Public Health Scotland.

Median waiting times were refused under Section 12, NHS Lanarkshire's neurodevelopmental service isn't broken down by condition, so extracting them would exceed the £600 cost limit. They did provide combined neurodevelopmental waiting-list totals (ADHD, autism and other conditions together, not split by type): 3,592 adults and 11,094 children waiting.

NHS Lothian cannot report ADHD and autism assessments separately. After a clarification exchange, the board confirmed by email that it would provide a combined summary covering both conditions together — so these figures are combined neurodevelopmental totals, not ADHD-only or autism-only. Adults: median wait to assessment 177 weeks (around 3 years 5 months) — the longest board-wide adult median reported by any Scottish board — with 12,769 adults waiting at 22 July 2026. Under-18s (CAMHS): median wait 141.5 weeks, with 12,275 children waiting at 22 July 2026. More than 25,000 people in total were on Lothian's combined waiting lists. The response (dated 30 July) arrived after both the statutory deadline of 23 July and the extended deadline of 27 July that the board had set itself.

NHS Orkney runs a single neurodevelopmental (ND) service that assesses ADHD and autism together, so it cannot separate ADHD from autism figures. Adults: no median wait was provided, the board says waiting times depend on individual clinical need, referral complexity and capacity. As a point of reference, in August 2026 the adult ND service was assessing people referred in November 2024, roughly 21 months earlier. Around 139 adults were waiting for a combined ADHD and/or autism assessment. Under-18s (CAMHS): no median wait was provided, and there is no separate paediatric ND service. The CAMHS ND pathway covers children already open to CAMHS with complex mental health needs who are awaiting a combined ND assessment, so an ADHD-only figure could not be given. 25 children and young people were on the CAMHS ND assessment waiting list. NHS Orkney is a small remote and rural board.

NHS Shetland confirmed under Section 17 of FOISA that it does not hold ADHD- or autism-specific waiting data, because its waiting lists, referrals and appointments are not coded by whether a wait relates to ADHD or autism. As the nearest equivalent it gave whole-service figures as at 30 June 2026: adult Psychological Therapies 257 waiting (median 22 weeks) and CAMHS 17 waiting (median 4 weeks), neither of which is ADHD- or autism-specific. The board responded following our requirement for review.

NHS Tayside gave waiting-list headcounts but no median waiting times, and only for Dundee. Adults (Dundee HSCP): 632 people waiting for an ADHD-related appointment and 885 for an autism-related appointment. The board could not give a median wait for either, it says it cannot reliably identify which referrals came from GPs (ADHD), and that its Trakcare referral system does not record the clinical reason for a referral, so autism assessments can't be separated from referrals of all kinds. Angus and Perth & Kinross HSCPs said they have no separate ADHD or autism pathways and do not hold the figures (Section 17), so these counts cover Dundee only, not the whole board. Because the board does not hold this data in reportable form for those two areas, individuals in Perth & Kinross and Angus also cannot be told their own position on the waiting list or how long they are likely to wait. Under-18s (CAMHS): NHS Tayside has no ADHD- or autism-specific CAMHS pathway and does not hold the figures (Section 17). Separately, Tayside CAMHS stopped accepting new neurodevelopmental referrals in March 2025.

Small board with a non-standard setup; its neurodevelopmental (ND) service only started in August 2024. Adults: adult ADHD is assessed by a separate community psychiatric nurse (CPN) team, 52.3 weeks, 277 waiting. Adult autism is listed at 24.9 weeks, but the board says the ND team has completed no adult autism assessments since August 2024, so it can't give a true median, treat 24.9 with caution. Adult neurodevelopmental referrals (78) are counted together. Under-18s: separate medians were given for ADHD (2.3 weeks, all referral sources, as no GP breakdown was available) and autism (69.3 weeks); the combined under-18 ND wait is 70.3 weeks. The waiting-list count isn't split by condition, 164 children on the combined list. Waiting lists at 30 June 2026: adult ADHD 277, adult ND 78, under-18 ND 164.