Eligibility

The eligibility and screening criteria for the Autism pathway at the Sheffield Adult Autism and Neurodevelopmental Service (SAANS) is applicable to:

• All adults irrespective of gender, age (16 years of age or over), ethnicity, sexuality, culture or physical abilities
• Individuals aged 16+ years of age
• Adult individuals referred for an ASD diagnostic assessment
• Adults with diagnosed ASD or referred for an ASD diagnostic assessment
• No diagnosis of a Learning Disability/Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder)/Global developmental delay
• Individuals with a BMI above 15 – meaning the person is not severely underweight and subject to the effects of starvation (which would affect the validity of our assessment), to your knowledge
• No current diagnosis of dementia - and is not going through the diagnostic process for dementia
• Person has given informed consent to the referral
• Referral has been completed by a GP or other health professional (we are unable to accept self-referrals)
   
• We are unable to expedite referrals under any circumstances, for any clinical or non-clinical reasons due to significantly high demand on our service. In the event of deterioration in an individual’s mental health or risks whilst waiting for an assessment/appointment, we would recommend they contact NHS 111 or are referred to their local mental health service for further assessment and risks management
• We are unable to accept referrals for assessments to revoke a diagnosis of ASD, or to complete a second-opinion assessment
   

Referral process

• Referrals are accepted from both primary and secondary care teams for people over the age of 16 who do not have a learning disability

Geographical population covered

• People registered with a GP in Sheffield
• People choosing to have their assessment at Sheffield through Patient Choice. (NB: Right to choose applies to the diagnostic pathway only. Our post-diagnostic support offer is only available to Sheffield residents).

Information for referrers

You can refer a patient for an Aautism diagnostic assessment or for post-diagnostic support where an existing autism diagnosis is confirmed.  

The following information about autism may be helpful to consider when deciding if a referral to SAANS is appropriate.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition which affects individuals in the following areas:

A. Social interaction and communication 
B. Flexibility of thought
C. Sensory processing

Further information

1. Autistic traits must have had their onset in the early developmental period and should have persisted throughout life to adulthood as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition
2. Autistic traits should be pervasive, and should have caused clinically significant impairment in one or more important domains of their life i.e., social, familial, educational, occupational and/or other important areas of their current functioning
3. These difficulties must also not be better explained by a learning disability/ intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder)/global developmental delay/Acquired brain injury, or mental health problems or other neurodevelopmental conditions)
4. Possibility of an untreated mood disorder or other mental health diagnosis - if the symptoms described by the patient could indicate another mental health issue/condition which they have not been assessed or treated for, we recommend that this is investigated prior to assessing for ASD. A referral to local mental health services via the Primary and Community Mental Health team (PCMH) or Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) would be recommended in these cases
5. Current misuse of alcohol or substances - if the patient is currently using significant amount of substances or alcohol on a regular basis we would be unable to accurately assess for autism and these patients should be referred to substance misuse services.