Primary Care Health Checks for Autistic Adults: A Qualitative Study of Autistic Adults’, Carers/Supporters’, and Primary Care Staff’s Perspectives

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Merrick, H., Taylor, H., Ingham, B., Finch, T., Herrington, R., Al-Ashmori, S., Buckley, C., Cooper, S. A., Fernandez-Garcia, C., Haining, S., Lees, R., Lennox, N., Moss, S., Nicholls, T., Nicolaidis, C., Osborne, M., Raymaker, D. M., Robinson, T., Scarlett, C.,..., & Parr, J. R. (2026). Primary Care Health Checks for Autistic Adults: A Qualitative Study of Autistic Adults’, Carers/Supporters’, and Primary Care Staff’s Perspectives. Autism in Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1177/25739581261486821

Publication date: 23 Sep 2026 Added to AutiHub: 25 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
23
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 23 (4.3%)
  1. Hannah Merrick
  2. Helen Taylor
  3. Barry Ingham
  4. Tracy Finch
  5. Ruby Herrington
  6. Sarah Al-Ashmori
  7. Carole Buckley
  8. Sally-Ann Cooper
  1. Cristina Fernandez-Garcia
  2. Shona Haining
  3. Rhianna Lees
  4. Nicholas Lennox
  5. Sebastian Moss
  6. Tim Nicholls
  7. Christina Nicolaidis
  8. Malcolm Osborne
  1. Dora M. Raymaker *
  2. Tomos Robinson
  3. Clare Scarlett
  4. Anna Urbanowicz
  5. James M.S. Wason
  6. Colin Wilson
  7. Jeremy R. Parr

Abstract

Background: Autistic adults face health inequalities and barriers to accessing primary care. Health checks may identify unmet needs and reduce disparities. This study explored the experiences of autistic adults, carers and supporters, and primary care staff receiving or delivering a co-designed biopsychosocial health check for autistic adults in National Health Service (NHS) primary care in England. Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 autistic adults, 5 carers/supporters, 11 health professionals, and 4 people undertaking administrative duties (n = 44). Participants were from 26 practices that delivered the health check. Interviews focused on experiences of the health check, adjustments provided, and barriers and facilitators to delivery. We analyzed data thematically using a reflexive and iterative approach. Results: We generated three themes: (1) Negotiating and facilitating adjustments to enable access to care, (2) creating ways for sharing information and listening to enable holistic care, and (3) meeting needs in a personalized way. Autistic adults valued personalized adjustments (facilitated through a pre-appointment questionnaire) and being able to discuss their health and well-being in a comprehensive and personalized way without judgment. Carers/supporters valued involvement and highlighted how they supported communication and provided emotional support to the autistic adult. Health professionals appreciated training, the pre-appointment questionnaire, and clinician template in enabling them to provide holistic, personalized care. Reported impacts included identifying unrecognized concerns, new referrals, medication adjustments, improved understanding of health and well-being, and enhanced engagement with primary care. Some people experienced challenges including inconsistent delivery of requested adjustments and logistical barriers to arranging appointments. Conclusion: Autistic adults, carers/supporters, and primary care staff generally experienced the health check positively, with participants describing improved knowledge of access to primary care, better patient satisfaction, and positive health, well-being and care outcomes. Findings support the feasibility and value of embedding structured primary care health checks for autistic adults.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
25
With a DOI
21
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
10 / 25 (40.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 25 (4.0%)
References with detected author names
24 / 25 (96.0%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
4
References with raw author names still to review
1
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
194
From DOI or external metadata
194
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
140 / 194 (72.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 54 / 194 (27.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
25 / 194 (12.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 25 / 140 (17.9%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 9 / 110 (8.2%).
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