Stage 3 - Randomised Controlled Trial

Acceptability and the clinical and cost effectiveness of the health check

Over 200 autistic adults from 42 GP practices across the North of England took part in the trial and were randomly allocated to one of two groups:

  1. Autism Health Check Group. People in this group were invited to attend a health check by their GP practice. The health check included a pre-appointment questionnaire, biopsychosocial health check appointment and a health action plan. We recruited 110 autistic adults to this group. 95 received a health check.
  1. Current Primary Care Services. People in this group will continue to receive the same services from their GP practice as they usually do. We recruited 113 autistic adults to this group

This allowed us to make comparisons because we did not know whether the Health Check for Autistic Adults was an acceptable treatment that could be delivered within the NHS.

All those taking part were asked to complete some questionnaires when they joined the study (baseline) and then at 3, 6 and 9 months later. These questionnaires ask for information about quality of life and use of health and social care services. Information about individual's health needs was collected from primary care health records 9 months after starting the trial.

Results from this analysis are coming soon!