Autism referrals double in 4 years
The latest set of QualityWatch indicators, which track the quality of health and social care in England, have been published.
One of the updated indicators is on access to services for autism. It reveals how the rate of referrals to autism services more than doubled for children and young people – as it also did for older adults – between January 2022 and December 2025. The same indicator also shows how the rate of autism referrals differed over that time between males and females.
The tracker also covers a range of other measures including
care home bed availability. Between 2012 and 2025, the total number of beds in both nursing care homes and residential care homes (together referred to as ‘care homes’) for older people declined from 11.3 per 100 people aged 75 and over to 8.3 per 100 people aged 75 and over – a 26% decrease. Likewise, during the same period, the number of nursing home beds per 100 people aged 75 and over fell from 5.2 to 4 – a 23% decrease.
Read about this and more in our weekly newsletter for 13 May 2026
