Adult ADHD services
Why change is needed
In Greater Manchester there are approximately 60,000 adults seeking a diagnosis of treatment for ADHD.
As there is currently no single waiting list in Greater Manchester for adults awaiting ADHD assessment and/or support, it is difficult to say how many people are currently waiting for an assessment.
Our best estimate is that there are over 15,000 people waiting across Greater Manchester – with this figure growing daily.
We have paid for more ADHD assessments to be carried out to try and clear the waiting lists. Whilst this has reduced the number of people who have been waiting a very long time, the overall waiting list has continued to increase because there are more people joining than there are available appointments.
In Greater Manchester, approximately 8,000 adults were referred for an ADHD assessment in the last 12 months, most of whom have not yet had an assessment.
A diagnostic assessment for ADHD costs between £700 and £1400 per person. Based on this, it would cost the NHS in Greater Manchester at least £15million to see everyone who is currently on the waiting list.
If the demand for ADHD services continues at the current levels, it would also cost the NHS in Greater Manchester £8million a year to fund assessment services capable of meeting the demand.
This is both unaffordable and unsustainable given the financial constraints currently in place for the NHS in Greater Manchester and a lack of people qualified in this area of specialism. .
NHS Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust have recently reported that if the service continues as it currently is, some people could be waiting over 7 years for diagnosis and treatment, which is not acceptable.
The increasing waiting times are leading more people to demanding access to specialist assessment and diagnosis from a variety of private providers via Right to Choose arrangements. Right to Choose means that if your GP needs to refer you for a physical or mental health condition, in most cases you have a legal right to choose the hospital or service you’d like to go to.
We have concerns about the safety of the current situation as a large number of people are being referred for assessment but are then going unassessed for long periods. Services are seeing patients in the order they are added to the waiting list, but there is currently no prioritisation of the patients on the waiting list or checks to see if someone has deteriorated.
There is evidence to suggest that patients with less severe ADHD symptoms may not need medicine. Some people may benefit from access to self help materials, talking therapies or peer support.
For all the reasons described above, adult ADHD services in Greater Manchester need to change so they can better support the people who need them.
The journey so far
Commissioners, health care professionals and service leads have been considering how the service can be improved for over 6 months, including exploring potential options for how the service may be improved.
It is important that people who need the services have an opportunity to be involved in this process.
So, to understand the experiences of people, we ran engagement in February and March 2024, asking people how they felt about the service and how they thought it might be improved. Over 500 people took part, with many more engaging through social media and through our website.
The key things that were raised through the engagement were:
- People felt that communication needed improving whilst they were on the waiting list.
- People need to be able to get access to support whilst they are waiting.
- Diagnosis is challenging, but currently is how people then get access to the help they need.
You can find out more about the engagement and what people said by reading the full report on the button below. If you need it in another language or format, please get in touch with us using the details below.
The feedback from the engagement is very important. It has helped shape the list of options for potential changes that may be made to the services.
Lived experience advisory group
This work has been supported by a lived experience advisory group that is made up of people living with ADHD. The people on the group all took part in the engagement and offered to work with us further. So far they have:
- reviewed and commented on the draft of the engagement work, to help us make sure that it accurately reflects what people said.
- worked with us to develop the standards that are used to evaluate the list of options for potential changes to the service.
- been involved with commissioners and health care professional in evaluating the options using the agreed standards, including ruling some options out.
What happens next
We are planning further engagement that will set out some potential options for how the service might change. We will be asking people to provide thoughts, feedback and ideas. There will be lots of opportunity to be involved.
The lived experience advisory group will support us in our planning, and will help us to make sure that the information we provide is helpful and informative.
All the information will be published on this page, but if you would like to make sure that you are kept up-to-date, would like to be involved further, or you have any questions, please reach out to us.
Contact details
gmhscp.engagement@nhs.net
07786 673762
We know that this is a mobile number and we don’t want to eat in to your minutes. So please feel free to either text or whatsapp us, or if you want to speak to us leave a message on our answerphone and we will call you back.
Equality Impact Assessment
You can now read our Equality Impact Assessment about adult ADHD services.
If you have any thoughts or feedback on this please do not hesitate to get in touch using the contact details above.
