GPs in New South Wales will soon be able to diagnose and prescribe medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), under game-changing reforms that could save substantial time and costs for thousands of Australians.
Under the changes, up to 1000 GPs in NSW will be able to provide ongoing ADHD prescriptions for children and adults who are on stable doses of medication, while up to 100 GPs will be able to diagnose and prescribe initial medication.
The reforms are designed to bring change to a system that currently requires people to see a specialist for diagnosis of ADHD, as well as ongoing management and prescription medication. For children, this often means a paediatrician and adults must see a psychiatrist. This comes at a significant financial cost and time burden.
Expressions of interest for GPs to undertake additional education and training requirements will be sought by the government over the coming months. NSW is the third state to implement reforms to make it easier for people to access treatment for ADHD, following Western Australia and Queensland.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said he hopes the reform will help “break the cycle of people having to wait years for, what can be, a life-altering diagnosis”.
“These reforms help tilt the scales in favour of fairness – reducing the cost of getting treatment by hundreds of dollars, removing red tape for thousands of families and young people, and giving people the support they need to live happier, healthier lives,” Minns said.
The move has garnered support from Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
RACGP NSW & ACT Chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman said she often hears from colleagues about families in rural areas who travel hours to see a paediatrician, and of families in Sydney spending upwards of $5,000 on assessments and diagnosis for ADHD.
“We know when it comes to ADHD that early intervention is vital, and being able to access appropriate therapy and medications from a young age helps kids thrive at school and at home. So, enabling GPs with specific skills to initiate prescriptions for ADHD medications will stop many children from languishing on outpatient waiting lists,” Dr Hoffman said.
How will this impact women and girls?
The reform in NSW could be particularly beneficial for women and girls, who historically have gone under-diagnosed. A recent Senate inquiry found factors including location, gender and cultural and linguistic background impact how people with ADHD access assessments and support.
Easier access to diagnosis and treatment through GPs will mean more women and girls can get the support they need in a timely manner.
For Asha Lambert-Patel, who manages the ongoing costs and ADHD treatment for her teenage daughter in regional NSW, the initial wait time for an appointment with a paediatrician was two years. She primarily sought a diagnosis to access better support for her daughter during school exams.
“I ended up paying for a private psychologist to do the assessment on my daughter…and that cost $2,000. I was then able to email the paediatrician and say ‘I’ve got the report, the psychologist says she meets the criteria for ADHD but she can’t diagnose or prescribe’,” Asha tells Women’s Agenda.
“Because of that, the psychiatrist could fast track me and I got in within a few months.”
Now, Asha’s daughter has six monthly appointments with the paediatrician to access her ongoing prescription.
“With renewing medication, I’d be more than happy to go and see our local GP for that. And I work with many, many families with kids with ADHD, and being able to streamline that process for them would be so much easier.”
For 28-year-old Emily Bennett, who was diagnosed with ADHD about five years ago, being able to see a GP for her ongoing prescription would save her hundreds of dollars each year.
“For an ongoing condition like ADHD, I don’t know why you have to go to a psychiatrist every time you need a script renewed,” she tells Women’s Agenda. “It costs me $300 each time to see the specialist.”
NSW Health Minister Rose Jackson said the reform is about fairnesss.
“Too many families are stuck waiting, paying, and struggling to access basic ADHD support — especially in the regions. That’s not just frustrating, it’s fundamentally unfair,” Jackson said. “For kids and families dealing with ADHD, the difference between getting help now and waiting years can be life-changing.”
Meanwhile, better access to diagnosis and treatment of ADHD could be game-changing for workplaces too, CEO of neurodivergent-inclusive digital agency The Digital Picnic, Cherie Clonan tells Women’s Agenda.
Clonan’s company has a policy to cover the full cost of an Autism and/or ADHD assessment for its employees. She says it has meant that employees with ADHD who have historically moved from role to role every 6 months are now up to their fifth year of employment with the company.
“Anyone will always further advance their career when they can arrive at a workplace a) deeply understanding themselves, and b) if they’re neurodivergent, being able to seek out roles best suited to them based on their neurotype and its associated strengths, as well as also being able to advocate for the particular accommodations they may need in order to thrive within their workplace,” Clonan says.
“For the employee, their career will simultaneously go from strength to strength off the back of deeply understanding self, and being able to better advocate for self”, Clonan says.
“And for the employer, they benefit from a diagnosed adult working professional who knows what they need from a role and/or employer in order to thrive at work.”