Autism diagnostic service delivered on behalf of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Autism diagnostic service delivered on behalf of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Many families feel anxious about today – that’s completely normal. There’s no test, and nothing for your child to get right. The purpose of today is simply to understand your child’s development, strengths, and where they may need support.
Please check in at reception when you arrive.
Your date, time and which location to attend are in the appointment email we sent you – please check those, as they’re different for every family.
Please arrive 15 minutes early
Bring the following with you:
When you arrive, check in at reception and let them know you’re here for an autism assessment with HG Mind Works; your clinician’s name is in your email.
Assessments take place at one of our two locations. You’ll have been told which one in your appointment email.
Address:
The Suffolk Enterprise Centre, Felaw Maltings, 44 Felaw Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP2 8SJ
Phone Number:
Directions:
Located within the historic Felaw Maltings, the centre is centrally located and is just a 10 minute walk from Ipswich railway station and the town centre.
Address:
St Andrews Castle, 33 St Andrew’s Street S, Bury Saint Edmunds, IP33 3PH
Phone Number:
Directions:
The main entrance on St Andrew’s Street South is shared with that of St Benedict’s Catholic School – Turn in through the gated entrance and take the right-hand fork, up the drive to the car park and Reception.
NB: SatNav users should enter the address – 33 St Andrew’s Street South, NOT the postcode which will direct you in to Old Convent Orchard (adjacent to St Andrew’s Castle).
Please do everything you can to attend
Appointments are in high demand, and if you need to rearrange, the next available slot may be several months away. Keeping your child’s appointment is the quickest way to get their assessment completed.
If you’re running late
Please call us on 020 8126 8767 (option 3) or email us as soon as you can, and we’ll let you know whether we can still see your child.
If you really can’t make it
Please tell us at least 24 hours before the appointment. We’ll treat that as a change, and you can rearrange up to twice. If you cancel with less than 24 hours’ notice, or your child doesn’t attend and we haven’t heard from you, it will be recorded as a missed appointment.
Missed appointments
We’ll rebook a missed appointment automatically, but after two missed appointments we’ll have to return your child’s referral to West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and your child will go back on the NHS waiting list.
If anything is making it hard to get to appointments, whether that’s travel, work or your child’s needs on the day, please talk to us early. We’d much rather help find a way through than see your child lose their place.
Assessment day has two parts – your conversation with us and a separate session for your child. They run one after the other or sometimes overlap. Here’s the shape of the day:
Check in at reception for your autism assessment appointment (your clinician's names are in your letter).
One of our clinicians will sit with you to talk through your child's development. Your child can be with you.
Your child will then spend time with our specialists doing activities, games and conversation.
Following your child’s assessment, their case will be discussed by our multidisciplinary team (MDT) to agree the outcome. A report will then be prepared, and we will contact you to share the outcome and report, and arrange a feedback appointment.
A clinician will sit with you and talk through your child’s development from the very beginning right up to now. This is called the ADI-R. It’s a relaxed conversation – not an interview. There are no right or wrong answers.
The conversation will cover things like early milestones, how your child plays and communicates, how they get on with other children and how they manage day to day at home and school. It usually takes between one to one and a half hours.
Your child can be in the room and there will be a second clinician there to listen in and keep them entertained.
Can’t remember every detail? That’s completely fine.
The clinician will guide you gently. You won’t be expected to have perfect recall.
If you’ve brought notes or any reports from school, this is a good time to have them ready.
Your child will spend time with our specialists doing activities, games and chatting. This is called the ADOS-2. The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2), is a standardised assessment tool used as part of autism diagnostic pathways.
It is not a test. There are no right or wrong answers. Your child cannot pass or fail. The activities are tailored to their age and how they communicate – they might involve toys, books, puzzles, pretend play or just having a chat.
For some children, we ask parents to leave the room during the session. This is because children often respond differently when a parent is in the room – and we need to see your child’s natural responses. If your child needs you there to feel safe, please let the clinician know so appropriate arrangements can be made.
If you do stay in the room – for a younger or more anxious child – we may ask you to sit to the side and not join in. This isn’t a reflection on you. It’s so we can observe your child’s natural reactions.
We may ask your permission to record the session. This helps the clinicians score the assessment accurately afterwards and won’t be shared outside the team. You can say no – it won’t affect the assessment at all.
Your child will be in experienced hands. Our assessments are carried out by clinicians who specialise in children’s neurodevelopmental assessment and are trained in the gold-standard tools used nationally – the ADOS-2 and ADI-R.
Every diagnosis is reviewed and agreed by the wider team together, never by one person alone, and signed off by a senior clinician, in line with NICE guidance. Here are some of the people who may be involved in your child’s assessment:
Today is the information-gathering part.
Our team usually meets to review everything in the same week as the assessment. We’ll then email you the report and a link to book an online feedback appointment.
You will not receive an outcome on the day of assessment.
For what the outcome stages involve, see the “After day” guide.
Information about appointments, assessment structure, reports and what to expect from the process.
HG Mind Works is a CQC-registered provider of neurodevelopmental assessment services. We have been commissioned by West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to deliver autism assessments for children and young people currently on the Trust’s waiting list. Our clinicians are experienced specialists in childhood neurodevelopmental conditions, and all assessments are carried out in line with NICE guidance (CG128: Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s).
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with us to reduce waiting times for autism assessments. Your child’s care remains under the NHS. We deliver the assessment on the Trust’s behalf, to the same clinical standards, and the outcome is shared with the Trust, and with your child’s GP if you’d like us to.
No. This service is fully NHS-funded. There is no charge to you at any stage.
No. This service is for children and young people who are already on the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust waiting list for an autism assessment. We are unable to accept self-referrals or new referrals directly. If you believe your child may need an assessment, please speak to your GP, health visitor or school SENCO in the first instance.
You will have been contacted by the Child Development Centre at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
We will then email and text you with a link to register, then phone you to book your appointments.
If you have any questions about whether your child is included, please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page.
Check junk, then contact us and we’ll resend.
Yes. Taking part is your choice. If you would prefer your child to remain on the Trust’s waiting list, please let us know and your child will be referred back to West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
Tell us at the start of the registration form or call us.
Tell us and we’ll send a discharge letter and offer your place to another family.
The assessment follows NICE guidance and uses internationally recognised diagnostic tools, including:
A short health check with a nurse at a separate appointment beforehand, and then on the day:
We will also review existing information such as school reports, previous health records and any questionnaires we ask you to complete in advance.
The health check is a short 20-minute appointment with a registered nurse. Doing it separately keeps assessment day shorter for your child.
The health check has to be done before our team reviews your child’s assessment. If it’s missed, we’ll rebook it. The missed-appointment rules above apply.
Yes. The clinical assessment is carried out in person. The parent or carer interview will also be carried out in person on the same day. We will confirm the arrangements for your child when we book the appointment.
Your child will be assessed by two experienced clinicians working together. These may include a clinical psychologist, a specialist nurse or an occupational therapist with specialist training in autism. Every diagnostic decision is reviewed and agreed by a multidisciplinary team, including a senior clinician who didn’t see your child, before the outcome is confirmed. Where clinically indicated, a speech and language therapy assessment will also be arranged.
Where the assessment identifies a clinical need, a speech and language therapy (SaLT) assessment will be arranged as part of the diagnostic process, in line with NICE guidance. This helps the team understand your child’s communication profile in more depth. If the SaLT assessment identifies areas where support would help, the report will set out clear recommendations for speech and language intervention, including onward referral where appropriate. There is no additional cost to you for any SaLT input provided as part of this service.
About two and a half hours, with two clinicians. The health check is a separate 20-minute appointment beforehand.
We will send you information in advance explaining what to expect. You can also review information here.
You know your child best: tell us in the registration form about anything that will help the appointment go smoothly, such as sensory sensitivities, communication preferences, or things that help your child feel comfortable. Your child can bring a familiar item with them.
Tell us as soon as possible. We’ll offer the next available appointment, which may not be until 2027.
We understand that children have good days and bad days, and we will do our best to be flexible.
Please contact us on 020 8126 8767 as soon as possible to let us know.
Depending on how late you arrive, we may need to rearrange your appointment so there is enough time to complete it.
The outcome is confirmed once the multidisciplinary team has reviewed all the assessment information.
You will receive a full written report explaining the findings, the outcome and recommendations.
We will share this with you and West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
A feedback session will be scheduled to help you understand the report.
The report will include recommendations to support your child at home, in education and in the community, along with signposting to local and national support services.
We advise sharing the diagnosis with your child’s GP so that any ongoing NHS care continues seamlessly.
Not every child assessed will meet the criteria for an autism diagnosis. If this is the case, the report will explain why and will include recommendations for any other support or onward referrals that may help, based on what the assessment found. This can be discussed in the follow up session with the clinicians in more detail.
A diagnosis can help schools and local authorities understand your child’s needs, but support in education is based on need, not diagnosis alone.
Our report can be shared with your child’s school or used as evidence within an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process if you choose.
We handle all personal and health information in line with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and NHS information governance standards.
Information is shared only with those involved in your child’s care, including West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, under a formal data sharing agreement. Our full privacy notice is available here.
Yes. HG Mind Works Ltd is registered with the Care Quality Commission · Provider ID: 1-25757603783 and operates under the same clinical governance, safeguarding, and quality standards expected of any NHS-commissioned provider.
You can contact our service team on 02081268767 option 3 or westsuffolk@hg-mindworks.com, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. For complaints, please contact the Integrated Community Paediatric Services team or West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).
This service does not provide urgent or crisis care. If you are worried about your child’s immediate safety or mental health, contact your GP, call NHS 111 or in an emergency call 999.
Before assessment day
What the assessment is, who you’ll meet, how to prepare and how to talk to your child about it.
After Assessment day
Understanding the outcome, talking to your child about a diagnosis, and where to find support next.
Resources & FAQs
Common questions, support organisations, and answers you can come back to whenever you need them.