Increase funding to provide support and research into Tourettes Syndrome

Tourettes affects 1 in 100 children, yet the support provided is minimal and very patchy across the UK, some areas have NO support.

Theres only a handful of specialist Tourettes centres in the whole of the UK - we need more of these to provide care for EVERYONE! More research leads to more help!

The support throughout the UK is nothing far from shocking, some areas having NO support what so ever.

Not getting a diagnosis and not getting the correct support at such an important age can lead to life long behavioural and mental health issues, which can be alleviated by having the right support from the start!

If more funding was given to create more specialist Tourettes centres this would help many families who are currently struggling.

More research would ultimately give more answers!

The majority of services for people with Tourette’s syndrome are commissioned locally by Clinical Commissioning Groups, who are best placed to plan the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and funding. Services are commissioned through local community paediatric services or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, with the pathways to one or the other varying across the country. These services will be appropriate for the majority of children and young people with Tourette’s syndrome, and the teams involved will refer them to multidisciplinary teams including clinical psychologists where necessary to help with the management of their condition.

Clinical psychologists are well placed to develop new services and undertake further bespoke development to respond to the needs of patients with Tourette’s syndrome. To increase the number of trained clinical psychologists available, Health Education England has supported a 60 per cent expansion in the clinical psychology training intake over the past two years. Trainees are able to undertake specialist placements focusing on Tourette’s syndrome, in addition to Tourette’s syndrome featuring as part of the broader neuropsychology curriculum.

For those who require more detailed specialist support, there are a small number of recognised services with focused multidisciplinary teams assessing and supporting children with tics, Tourette’s syndrome and motor stereotypies and their families. The focus of these teams is either from a neurology, behavioural or neuropsychiatry perspective, or a combination of these specialties. These centres have internationally recognised expertise in the assessment and management of Tourette’s syndrome, and frequently discuss complex patients in an informal clinical network. National and international guidelines for management have been published to support care pathways.