There are a lot of discussions going on about ADHD where the suggestion is that about 5% of the population may be of this neurotype. Atrium Clinic clinicians and psychologists don’t assess and diagnose people with ADHD but we work on the support side. The statistics say that there are anything between 90,000 and 220,000 adults waiting for the NHS to assess them and discussions are going on in government quarters to identify what should happen next in terms of future plans to meet demand and structure services that work. If we consider the expected 5% of the population as having ADHD and the under supply of ADHD diagnostic services to date, for the most part, this represents a chronic under resourcing rather than a spike of referrals. That’s not the same as saying that all the people waiting for assessment have ADHD or that their lives are so impacted that they need a lot of support.
My concern as always, is those people who are most severely impacted after other conditions have been ruled out; who were not identified at school because ADHD was not recognised at the current expected levels over ten years ago. Yet this cohort struggled through school, underperformed, their relationships and mental health suffered sometimes to the brink of suicide and then an opportunity arrived to get an assessment that could lead them to a better life and for those most impacted, that might involve medication. They and their families found the money to get assessments and as diagnosed people they got medication that changed their life. They were able to study, pass exams and deliver work of a consistent standard that meant they could engage in a meaningful adult life after years of struggle.
Prepare yourself for the bad news! Somewhere in the ‘Should we or shouldn’t we diagnose these people and medicate them’ or ‘If the NHS didn’t diagnose them we should not accept them into shared care with the GP’, there are real people paying over £100.00 a month for prescribed medicine that they can’t get from their GP because the GP is doubting the validity of the diagnosis. These are the people who the NHS did not recognise when they struggled at school, who have had to find the funds to support themselves and now have found something that works for them whilst they wait for an NHS appointment.
I don’t want everyone diagnosed. I don’t seek a label for every normal emotional struggle but hey, if these people who have been so cruelly excluded from NHS support for so long and have gone to all this trouble to make the most of their lives and function better, why are we punishing them twice with these extortionate fees for medications if they are working for them? Bring them in the fold, understand their journeys of transformation and back them up. The common ADHD medication may cost under £20.00 a month to the pharmacist. We could be keeping some of them out of other mental health services and off welfare benefits too. We say we are promoting neurodiversity- prove it.
