Families of disabled children should be spared the �bureaucratic pain� of endless form-filling and assessments to get the help they need, Tory leader David Cameron has said.

Families of disabled children should be spared the "bureaucratic pain" of endless form-filling and assessments to get the help they need, Tory leader David Cameron has said.

In a newspaper article, he said that a future Conservative government would consider adopting an Austrian- style system of one-off assessments by "crack-teams" of medical experts to work out what assistance a family required.

Mr Cameron, who delivered a keynote speech on the subject yesterday at the Research Autism conference in London, drew on his own experience with his profoundly disabled son, Ivan, to underline the need for a simpler system. "Life for parents of disabled children is complicated enough without having to jump through hundreds of government hoops," he said.

"After the initial shock of diagnosis you're plunged into a world of bureaucratic pain. Having your child assessed and getting the help you're entitled to means answering the same questions over and over again, being buried under snow drifts of forms, spending hours on hold in the phone queue. I am determined to make life simpler for parents."

It is the first time that Mr Cameron has directly addressed the subject since Ivan - who suffered from cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy - died suddenly in February.

He described how he and his wife, Samantha, were not only "deeply shocked, worried and upset" when they were told of Ivan's disabilities, but also "incredibly confused".

The Conservative leader reaffirmed his pledge to halt the closure of special schools and promised action to make it easier for the parents of disabled children to get the education they need.

"So many parents get stuck on a merry-go-round of assessments, appeals and tribunals to get a statement of special needs and the extra help their child needs," he said.

Mr Cameron also promised a "radical" increase in the number of health visitors, a clear entitlement to respite care, and greater control for parents and carers through personal budgets and direct payments.