ADHD wait - NHS Lothian

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I suspect my 16 year old has ADHD and that medication would really help them currently. Does anyone know what the timeframe is from going to the GP to getting medication in Lothian? I’m thinking it’s YEARS.

I think it’s about 2 years at the moment for initial assessment and probably similar for an appointment to discuss meds. There are a number of places who will assess privately but the issue then is the cost of medication as GPs are unlikely to do shared care.

Yes that’s about what I thought. It’s a shame as I think medication would really help with current issues. Why are services in this country SO BAD.

I know that our area (Forth Valley) have suspended ADHD assessments for adults completely, so a 16 year old would probably age-out of CAMHS without being seen and then have no-where to go (unless privately). I don't know about Lothian specifically but you could try to find that out (for both CAMHS and adult services) and then hope that they might be seen before they are 18, but I think the most likely scenario is that they would join waiting lists that only get longer and then are eventually suspended due to being unsustainably long.

It’s not the diagnosis that bothers me, it’s the medications. It seems crazy to be unable to access medication which would help a persons mental state purely due to waiting lists. Might get them on the list now anyway.

Yes but you need the assessment and diagnosis as a first step though, and if that stage takes 2-3 years before you can even think about medication that slows the whole process down. I'm not sure about how the medication process works to be honest, my daughter was accepted for a neurodevelopmental assessment a year ago and I've heard nothing else since. I'm not going private partly because of the cost of diagnosis but mostly because of the cost of medications and prescriptions if she does have ADHD, as our practice are apparently v reluctant to do shared care (which I can kind of understand). Your son is a few years older though so I'm sure the pressures of school work and exams make the issue of medication more pressing.

Contact Psychiatry UK, they do NHS referrals a well a their private work. My daughter utilised them, she is now 30, it took a year before diagnosis assessment, which is a lot quicker than the traditional NHS route. The only issue is that the medication is in short supply, approximately 10:months wait time.

She initially approached them privately as she was struggling with her mental health, the psychiatrist diagnosed CPTSD, it was the Dr who alerted her to the fact that he thought she had ADHD traits. I remember when she was young going to the Drs as she never shut off, I called her a whirling dervish. I also approached the primary school head that I thought she was dyslexic, he did his own assessment and poo pooed it. Lo and behold in the very last year of school student services diagnosed her, far too chuffing late, she struggled so much. Schools are still failing our children, a friends daughter is ten years younger than ours, and she was struggling to help her. We suggested a dyslexia assessment, which they did privately, and she’s dyslexic. She attended a bells and whistles Catholic School and it never dawned on them, absolutely pathetic.

We’ve found Psychiatry UK to be very helpful, they’re worth calling, 🤗🤗

Thanks for the tips. He’s dyslexic and autistic too, but it’s the inability to organise himself (and the constant mess, losing things and forgetting things) that is driving me mad.

Can you afford private? We had a private assessment for DS who is a wee bit older - he is at uni - not cheap, cost about £800 I think, possibly more, but because the assessment was done by a consultant psychiatrist, the GP was happy to do the prescribing under shared care which at least saved a bit on the ongoing medication costs.

Exactly like my daughter, lost keys, debit cards, constantly late, disorganised, impulsive spending, getting into debt, the list goes on.

My husband is the same, he’s dyslexic but never been tested for ADHD, it’s been bloody hard work looking after and constantly reminding these two humans, absolute nightmare. It’s not helped by me developing M.S with short term memory loss, HELP! 🤪

I hope you find somewhere soon for an assessment, I can’t wait until my daughter gets her meds 🙏