ADHD medication

[Oku]

Hi my child was diagnosed with adhd and I wanted to start medication but I contacted my GP and they said they don’t do medication and it would have to be a specialist so please how do I go about getting medication now? This was the right to choose pathway? They said it would be accepted by NHS so who gives the medication? Thanks

My daughter was diagnosed today, and the paediatrician said if we want to consider medication that's a separate team needing a separate referral, which he is making for us. Not sure how it works if you had a private diagnosis, as GPs can't directly refer to the medication clinic, or so the paediatrician said.

It wasn’t private it was right to choose so the nhs arranged it

Ah, ok, then whoever made the diagnosis needs to refer.

You get back in touch with the specialist team that diagnosed them and tell them you want to consider medication. Its a separate team and you go back on a waiting list. They should have advised you of this on your letter of diagnosis.

My son was diagnosed 3 yrs ago (nhs) at 18 and has just got to top of list and about to get medication. A v slow service.

Pretty certain she said it was through the GP but im still waiting for the report but need to get on the list asap

Wow hope it’s not that long where I am

Contact the clinic who diagnosed your son and ask to be put on the waiting list for a medication appointment. Be aware that even under Right to Choose, it can be a long wait.

Hopefully once your child is titrated onto an effective dose and is stable, the GP will agree to take over providing the prescription. However, you will still have to have six monthly medication reviews with your Right to Choose specialist prescriber. The GP can’t do this as they are not a specialist.

GP can't prescribe without shared care agreement. They won't usually sign this until stable on a dose for a set period. The medication is usually started by whoever you see - however not all companies people pick for right to choose will initiate medication, especially for children so you need to check. The company webpage should tell you if they are prescribers or not.

Ok thanks

Your GP should hopefully do shared care but you will need to check. Your right to choose provider should put you on a waitlist for titration, they can then send your GP your prescription and they will prescribe it for you. Your child will then have appointments with the right to choose doctor to manage their dose.

We had to go through the team who made the diagnosis too. Yes it was a long process, lt helped because they lost their request for medication in their system. Said they had send me a letter which I never received. It was only when I phoned up to ask why they were taking so long that we made any progress.

We had to rely on things like running, weighted blanket and meditation to try and help. Not perfect but they are good habits to get into anyway.

You can probably take the diagnosis to a paediatric psychiatrist for meds. I did it all privately for my DC and got the diagnosis and started on meds in about 8 weeks from first enquiry. My GP won’t do shared care and it costs me about £200 for appointments every 3-6 months and about £50 a month in meds but it has been life changing for my child

I can’t afford private i will be waiting for the nhs just looked and it said they do shared care thankfully

Some right to choose only do diagnosis not medication. Have you checked that your provider did? If not you'll either have to go onto your nhs medication wait list, be referred to an adhd medication provider or go private. In my area it's not the general Paediatrics team who medicate. Your gp must refer you to cahms who will organise it but every trust is different

Yeah it says they do thankfully so I will contact them tomorrow