Making a referral to the age 5 - 17 years County Durham Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Assessment Service
November 2025 - Important Update for Professionals - Changes to the County Durham Neurodevelopmental Assessment Service Referral Process
In County Durham, the Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Assessment Service for children and young people aged between 5 - 17 years old is provided by Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.
On Monday 3rd November 2025 Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust made changes to the referral form for clinical diagnostic assessment's for Autism, ADHD, or combined assessments for children and young people aged between 5 - 17 years old. Click here to download the new referral form.
The service does not currently offer clinical diagnostic assessments for any other neurodevelopmental condition.
What’s Changing?
From Monday 3rd November 2025, all new referrals for neurodevelopmental diagnostic assessment (ADHD, Autism, or combined ADHD and Autism diagnostic assessment) must follow a needs-led approach:
- Before making a referral, families must meet with a Professional who knows the child well—this could be from Education, Health or Social Care.
- A school teacher, nursery teacher, a member of the Health Visiting team or the social worker supporting the family are all examples of Professionals who may know the child well.
- Together with the family, the Professional will complete the Needs Led Planning Tool, which helps identify the child’s needs and explores support options. This may include supporting children and their families to access services without requiring a them to have a clinical diagnosis.
- If it is agreed that a neurodevelopmental diagnostic assessment is appropriate, the newly updated referral form must be completed by the Professional and submitted.
Key Changes to the New Referral Form and Process
- There is now a checklist on the front page of the referral form to guide the Professional and the family through the needs led approach. Each of the steps must be completed before the referral form can be submitted.
- The Professional must use the Needs Led Planning Tool. It should be completed collaboratively by Professionals with families.
- The Needs Led Planning Tool isn't available to download from this website. Professionals should already have this tool, however if any Professional does not, they should contact tewv.northdurhamneuro@nhs.net using their work email address to request a copy. This Needs Led Planning Tool will be uploaded onto the Family Hub Platform in November 2025.
Why are these changes being made?
All system delivery partners within the County Durham Care Partnership are committed to ensuring that services are accessed by the right people at the right time — and that families receive support based on need.
The Neurodevelopmental Assessment Team have worked in partnership to develop and introduce a new referral process for children and young people aged 5 to 17 years old across County Durham.
Important Reminders
- From Monday 3rd November 2025, only referrals submitted by a Professional on the new referral form will be accepted.
- Submissions using previous versions will be declined and returned.
- Professionals are asked to please ensure any copies of outdated referral templates are deleted from their systems.
This information was provided by the Service Manager of the County Durham and Darlington Neurodevelopmental Diagnostic Assessment Service, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust