Will NHS prescribe ADHD medication following private diagnosis

[Mousehouses]

DC11 has been (privately) diagnosed for ADHD (inattentive) and ASD. The ADHD is mild and affects focus in school, seems to have a knock on effect of making school stressful and socially it can be difficult when DC is unable to focus in lessons.

We want to try medication to see if it helps. School have already tried lots of concessions and different arrangements. We have worked on diet, sleep, exercise. No real improvements and we are worried the issues will become worse with secondary and the concentration required for classwork, homework, exams.

Can we take our private diagnosis to the GP to look at a prescription. How does it work in terms of informing school, health tests, DC being involved and understanding.

Previous threads about this I've been on have had very mixed responses, it seems to depend on the policy of your health trust and or GP practice. Some posters are adamant it does not happen others have had no trouble getting the GP to prescribe. I have done it twice! Made a big difference to ability to cope with school. One now manages without at college as he is doing only the creative subject he is passionate about so has no trouble concentrating, the other is doing a very difficult subject at uni that requires great accuracy so he still feels he needs meds.

It seems to depend on the NHS trust and which organisation diagnosed the condition and did thee diagnosis criteria meet NHS guidelines. Our local trust generally doesn't though.

When I was privately diagnosed my then GP refused to follow his care plan or to.prescribe the medication he advised. In her words "why should I prescribe something just because a random guy in London says so?". She also thought methyl phenidate is the same as speed and that only boys who don't finish school can have ADHD. She referred me back to an NHS psychiatrist who confirmed the diagnosis and prescribed the medication. Anyway I think it depends on the GP. Definitely ask your gp. Hope they are more sensible than mine was.

It depends on whether there is a shared care protocol in place so as pp have said depends upon the area.

Obviously depends on the exact medicines prescribed too and again this varies depending upon where you live. Are you able to ask the clinic you are looking at how they manage long term and follow up care?

I was diagnosed privately and am now halfway though a year-long wait to be seen by the NHS ADHD team for treatment. There was no push back on my diagnosis or being treated by them but I never suggested my GP be in charge. I moved from abroad, where I was already under treatment, so now have a long gap before I can get back to it.

adhduk.co.uk Might have some good advice. I attended a webinar with them recently and they basically said what @Wbeezer said. The other option is to have it prescribed privately and pay. There are some bundle deals.

@CorporateBull that is so depressing. We are considering moving back to the Uk and I would really struggle without medication. It’s changed my life

The GP may take over prescribing once the dose is agreed but you would usually need a specialist (psychiatrist) to prescribe in the first place. The GP is unlikely to just accept a diagnosis and write a script for meds as they aren't specialists in this field. We had my sons private diagnosis accepted by CAMHS who then prescribed via the GP through a shared care agreement. The medication reviews are with the psychiatrist who then tells the GP what to prescribe.

Generally with child mental health and neural pathways r type disorders, camhs prescribed initially and then the gp processes the repeats for a set period.

When dd had meds, the gp wasn't allowed prescribe

I think it helps that the private diagnosis we had was provided by someone who used to work for CAMHS in our area and was well known to the GPs and respected by them so they were OK to do shared care. I am also v lucky that we seem to have GPs who are very accomodating generally and not usually dismissive.

We still have to pay privately for medication reviews at set intervals

My GP is pretty good but they wouldn't do shared care.

Wanted to send me to the CMHT. I won't do that as I think they're stretched enough and I doubt they'd understand my issues.

We paid for first 3 then GP took over