North Jutland leaders seek to cut children’s 78-week assessment wait

Children in North Jutland are waiting 78 weeks for an assessment for autism or ADHD, according to the region. A political summit between municipalities and the region will look for ways to reduce the waits, DR reports.

Mikael Klitgaard, a Venstre mayor of Brønderslev Municipality and chair of the North Jutland Municipal Contact Council, is hosting the meeting with the region. He called the situation “a bit of a catastrophe” and said it was the region’s biggest problem at present.

“They are born as happy children, and then they grow up in a system where they face more and more challenges,” Klitgaard said. “We clearly need to do a better job than we are today of helping children thrive and feel well.”

Eva Catharina Bandholm, from Aalborg, waited more than a year for her daughter to be assessed by the region’s child and adolescent psychiatry service. She said the family found it frustrating that they could not get help without a diagnosis.

“Nothing happens. Nothing happened at school. Even though we knew we had a child who needed help, we couldn’t get anything started,” she said.

Bandholm now works for the child and adolescent psychiatry service, guiding and advising families in situations like the one her own family experienced. She hopes the summit will make a difference for children and young people currently on waiting lists.

“The more faces we can put to this, the easier it becomes to see that there are people behind the figures and budgets they are working with,” she said.

Klitgaard said the region and municipalities should commit to more ambitious goals after the meeting. He said success would mean participants leaving with ideas and knowledge about how to help more children thrive and reduce demand for oversubscribed specialist services.

More than 100 politicians and municipal and regional leaders are attending the summit at a sports centre in Vrå.