Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects people’s behaviour.
Symptoms of ADHD tend to be noticed at an early age and may become more noticeable when achild’scircumstanceschange,such as when they start school. Most cases are diagnosed when children are under 12 years old, but sometimes it’s diagnosed later in childhood. Sometimes ADHD was not recognised when someone was a child, and they are diagnosed later as an adult. The symptoms of ADHD may improve with age, but many adults who were diagnosed with the condition ata young age continue to experience problems. People with ADHD may also have additional problems, such as sleep and anxiety disorders.
Further information can be found on the NHS website:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/
Referral for Assessment
After looking through the NHS information if you feel you meet the criteria for ADHD and would like to be assessed this can be done through via our surgery to the local providers. [We would advise that the Rotherham AdultADHD service has a long waiting list of more than a year currently.]
Please contact the surgery and ask for an appointment with our Mental Health Practitioner for an ADHD assessment. You will then be placed on a waiting list and contacted once an appointment is available.
If you choose to arrange an ADHD assessment privately, please bear in mind that Adult ADHD medication is a specialist only medication and South Yorkshire GPs are not currently allowed to take over prescribing of these medications. This mav mean that you have to pay for your medications or will need to be referred to the ADHD service for them to issue.
Guidance for NHS patients considering private referral medical consultations
Self-referral for Private Care
If you choose to refer yourself to a consultant independently of your GP for additional privately funded care (i.e. outside the NHS), whether in the UK or abroad, you are expected to pay the full cost of any treatment (including medication) you receive in relation to the package of care provided privately (including medication and non-emergency complications).
Private referral through your GP
Following a private referral made by your GP, you must pay for any medication prescribed by your private specialist.
If there is a need for you to continue treatment, you may initially be given just one private prescription (which you will need to pay for) and advised to return to your GP to see if further prescriptions can be provided on the NHS. However, for this to happen, your GP must have received a full clinical report from the private specialist.
It may not always be possible or appropriate for the medicine(s) recommended by your private specialist to be prescribed by your GP for the following reasons:
• Specialist medication
If the medication is not something GPs would generally prescribe, it is for the individual GP to decide whether to accept clinical responsibility for the prescribing decision recommended by another doctor. They may not accept that responsibility when the prescribing request is outside their usual expertise and experience or if it is not one usually recommended by locally agreed policy or national guidance.
• Medicines considered unsuitable for routine prescribing
The private consultant may ask the GP to issue an NHS prescription for medicine(s) that has been ‘considered unsuitable for routine prescribing locally’. In these situations, your GP may substitute the medicine for another one which is on the locally agreed formulary.
If your GP does not feel able to accept clinical responsibility, then the GP may consider:
1. Asking the specialist to retain responsibility for your treatment because of its specialist nature, and to provide further prescriptions, for which you will need to pay.
2. Offering a referral to an NHS consultant to consider whether the recommended medication should be prescribed as part of ongoing NHS funded treatment.
Note: For drugs not available on the NHS, a GP may issue a private prescription if they feel it is clinically appropriate and they are happy to take responsibility for the prescribing decision.
Please access these links for further information:
