Design and initial evaluation of an autism-specific health check for use with autistic adults in NHS primary care

Open Lab is working on this project funded by Autistica to develop and test an autism health check for use in General Practice.

Autistic people are more likely to experience poor health than people who are not autistic. Some don’t seek help when they are unwell and many find going to the doctors difficult.

This project will work with autistic people to develop and test an autism health check for use in General Practice (by GPs). It could become something that in the future is offered to all autistic people on the NHS.

If we can show that certain changes to surgeries and appointments make a big difference to autistic people, we can change the way GP surgeries operate, making it easier for autistic people to access primary care.

This project will help the NHS test the best way of delivering health checks. If it is successful, we can campaign for the NHS to make annual checks available to autistic people across the UK. It could help the NHS identify and treat health problems earlier and ensure more autistic people live longer, healthier, happier lives.