MORE than 150 additional patients with suspected autism in West Yorkshire are waiting for a diagnosis this year.

NHS England figures show there were 204,876 patients with an open referral for suspected autism across the country in September, a 27 per cent rise from 161,827 the year before.

In the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board area, 7,460 patients were waiting for an autism assessment, up from 7,290 last year.

Of these, 84 per cent (6,300) had a referral that had been open at least 13 weeks.

The NHS target is for every patient with a referral to receive a first appointment within 13 weeks.

Tim Nicholls, assistant director of policy, research and strategy at the National Autistic Society, said the figures should be a "huge wake-up call to the Government to urgently fix this broken system".

A spokesperson for NHS England said: "While there remains high demand for autism assessments, we are seeing an improvement in the number of assessments completed.

"But we know there is more to do, which is why we have published new national guidance to help local partners to deliver high-quality autism assessment services and to manage the 161 per cent increase in referrals over the last four years, while providing enhanced autism training for psychiatrists."