CHILDREN with autism and speech problems are facing longer waits to access community care due to NHS staff shortages, health leaders have warned. 

The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers are both calling for urgent action to improve the waiting list for language therapy and autism assessment, warning delays will have a “profound effect” on the lives of children. 

The organisations say there are growing vacancies for district nurses, health visitors, podiatrists, community dentists and speech and language therapists.

Existing shortages have been exacerbated by the pandemic as well as the cost-of-living crisis, which is piling additional pressures on staff, especially those who need to travel to see patients, health leaders said. 

More than one million people, including 300,000 children, are waiting for care in the community, according to figures obtained by the Health Service Journal earlier this month. 

Of those about 74,300 young people were waiting for speech and language therapy. 

The NHS Confederation and NHS Providers said that the government’s pledge to recruit 50,000 more nurses before the end of this Parliament will provide “little or no benefit” as it only applies to hospital nurses. 

“Without action we are condemning patients, including young children, to lengthy waits and storing up problems in GP practices, A&E departments and other urgent and emergency care services that could have been dealt with earlier in the community,” NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor said. 

NHS Providers chief executive Saffron Cordery said “national action” was needed to tackle the problem as she accused the government of failing to deliver a fully costed and funded workplace plan for the health service.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government was “supporting the community nursing workforce through initiatives such as the safer staffing tool and the development of the national community nursing plan.”