HEALTH bosses say more must be done to support people with learning disabilities, especially increasing numbers of men being diagnosed with autism later in life.

More men are being diagnosed with Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) , but Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group currently offer no services for people once they receive that diagnosis.

Despite voluntary groups working to help people live with their disability, leaders say more must be done.

Learning disabilities services were described by chair of the Wiltshire Council Health and Wellbeing Board Dr Richard Sandford Hill as a Cinderella service also called for more work to be done to help prisoners in Earlstoke get diagnosed if they have a learning disability in order to receive help and “break the cycle of offending.”

Lucy Baker of Wiltshire CCG said: “There is a Lack of facilities in the south west for people with learning disabilities and asd when they reach crisis.

“I don’t think we are doing enough to support people with an asd diagnosis. Within the CCG we commission ASD diagnosis services but we don’t commission anything else.

“As we’ve seen increase children and young people being diagnosed and also increase working age men being diagnosed with asd.”

Dr Sandford Hill said : “Somebody may never have been diagnosed until adulthood and often we forget people have lives like us, they have children , they’re part of a community and then suddenly they are diagnosed, is that quite difficult because they don’t fit the mould?”

Ms Baker said: “We have a high instance in men being diagnosed later in life and what we find is people finding social situations difficult that may lead to other issues such as social isolation and mental health. Some people say it is a relief to have that diagnosis because it explains things through their life that have happened . There’s been a lot of focus on diagnosis in children but not enough in adulthood. It’s a gap we need to fill. ”

Claire Edgar Director mental health and learning disabilities in Wiltshire council said:”We have pockets of fantastic work it’s about brining it together and includes commissioning from health and social care.”

Awaiting figures on how many adult man have had asd diagnosis and whether this is increasing.

Michelle Donelan, MP for Chippenham, has attended the National Autistic Society’s first ever Understanding Autism session. Michelle was one of 82 MPs who attended one of three sessions on 1 May, receiving more information on what autism is, guidance on how to create autism-friendly surgeries and tips on how to support autistic constituents.

Michelle, MP for Chippenham, said: “The other week I did an autism training session by the National Autistic Society so that I could offer a better service for constituents with autism as well as work experience and employees who are autistic. Having a better understanding of the things that I can do is amazing and I urge all employers to learn more. “.