Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: North East
(asked on 21st February 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adults are on the waiting list for ADHD assessments in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle and (d) the North East.
There is, at present, no single, established dataset that can be used to monitor waiting times for the assessment and diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) nationally or for individual organisations or geographies in England. Although the data requested is not held centrally, the relevant information may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners.
We are supporting a taskforce that NHS England has established to look at ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, including timely access to services and support.
In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop a data improvement plan, understand the provider and commissioning landscape, and capture examples from integrated care boards (ICB) who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services.
The NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB advises that it has developed a Mental Health, Learning Disability and Neurodiversity Improvement Plan, which is available publicly at the following link:
The ICB has advised that it has established an all-age ADHD and autism working group which will be responsible for understanding the current pathways and for making recommendations to improve the pathways and capacity in future. The ICB’s review of the ADHD pathway commenced in December 2024 and will include stakeholders from the NHS, local authorities, and the community and voluntary sector, and will also consider the best way to engage people with lived experience of ADHD. The ICB also continues to work across the region with local providers of ADHD services and local authorities on the transformation of these pathways, including the 'waiting well' offer for support.