Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will create a long-term strategy for raising awareness of ADHD in women and young girls.

The Department has no current plans to create a long-term strategy specifically for access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, nor for raising awareness of ADHD or preventing misdiagnosis of ADHD in women and young girls.

It is the responsibility of local commissioners to make appropriate provisions available to meet the health and care needs of their local population. With respect to assessment, diagnosis and treatment for ADHD, integrated care boards, NHS trusts and health professionals should have due regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline, NG87: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management.

This guideline aims to improve recognition and diagnosis of ADHD, specifically highlighting the importance of recognising ADHD in women and girls, and to improve the quality of care and support that people of all ages who are diagnosed with ADHD receive.

The Women’s Health Strategy for England sets out our plans for boosting health outcomes for women and girls and improving how the health and care system listens to women. Improving information provision for women and girls is a priority. In July 2023, we launched a women’s health area on the National Health Service website. This brings together over 100 topics, including ADHD, and our ambition is for the NHS website to be the first port of call for women and girls seeking information.

The NICE guideline also covers considerations on pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for ADHD. The guideline states that for children aged five years old and over and for adults, medication should be offered if ADHD symptoms are still causing a significant impairment in at least one domain, after environmental modifications have been implemented and reviewed. Overall, the decision and timescale for initiating medication should be a clinical decision based on the individual patient.

We are aware of current disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of ADHD. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to some other medicines which should be largely resolved by April 2024.