ADHD on going private prescribing costs

[Gillybilly502]

I need some advice please. We recently went down the private route to have my son assessed for ADHD, which indeed he is. The cost of this was best part of £800. The medication he has been prescribed has been life changing for him. However I didn't realise there would be on going monthly costs, a monthly prescription review £195 and the medication itself which is £100 per month. This £300 monthly cost is just not sustainable for us. Do any of you have advice on this? Thank you

Well what is the answer? For the thousands of parents who can’t get CAMHS appointments?

Leave the kid to commit suicide?

The answer is for the government to properly fund the NHS.

Expect individual GPs to pick up the slack for everything and yet more will leave/burnout.

Loads of practices have closed in the last couple of years.

I completely agree that it is unacceptable. But every single illness has a pressure group which thinks that GPs are just the right person to take on a bit more unresourced work in their area and it isn't possible.

IMO the majority of private diagnoses made by experienced consultant psychiatrists who also hold or have held in the past an NHS post and who work in the private sector are sound. That still doesn't mean that we have the resource to share care if unfunded.

That's good to know @androidnotapple

So what is your suggestion for the 100000 kids on NHS waiting list for 4 years for ND or mental health issues? Just leave them to flounder as concerned parents?As they fall apart and lives, education and family are destroyed. We’re waiting for an EHCP assessment. The private psychiatrist report was the clincher. Good job we didn’t wait 18 months for CAHMS.

We all know the NHS needs loads more funding. But it ain’t happening atm. So what’s the answer? Because you haven’t answered.

I’m not sure why pointing out an issue means you are required to have a solution?

Ours did shared care when DS' meds were stable - but then we reached the top of the NHS waiting list anyway.

I don't have a solution. Because I'm a jobbing GP on the front-line and not the secretary of state for health. And if you think that piling the pressure on us to sort this crisis is going to get it sorted, you are sadly mistaken.

Local solutions could involve ICBs properly funding shared care, or GPs with extended roles in ADHD. That would be fairly straightforward quick thing to do, and wouldn't cost a huge amount. It's your MP you should be having a go at as to why this isn't happening. Not me.

How much pressure was l under when my daughter seriously self harmed? With no medical care available for 18 months.

My GP is absolutely lovely btw

My Mp doesn’t answer emails I’ve already tried.

I completely agree that it is utterly shit. And you have my huge sympathy.

Just because I think dumping a load of unresourced work unsafely onto primary care isn't the answer, doesn't mean that I have no insight into how rubbish it is.

I watched the Panorama on private ADHD prescriptions the other day and they said, if your NHS waiting list for a consultation is too long, you can request for them to pay for a private diagnosis for you. If they do, they would then take over the prescription care. So if they refuse to share care, then ask for an NHS diagnosis and if they say it;s a 5 year wait, say this is too long and request a private one at an NHS approved clinic.

It's ridiculous how difficult it is to get ADHD medication on NHS. It's life changing for so many people. My guess is that it is because they worry it would be abused, as in neurotypical people Ritalin acts as an amphetamine.

My guess is that it is because they worry it would be abused, as in neurotypical people Ritalin acts as an amphetamine.

It is an amphetamine.
I don't think that's why - GPs are at the frontline of drug abuse so that would be something they already cope with - but stimulant medications can have lots of side effects and interactions - we are mighty glad we are on consultant care now as DS has epilepsy as well as ADHD and the consultant is able to sort out any adverse interactions sharpish whereas a GP would not necessarily have the expertise (though @androidnotapple may well be able to think of other reasons).

As a reasonably well informed person with a PhD in science I'm able to read the literature on the effectiveness of stimulants, the non-effectiveness of caffeine, which parenting interventions actually work and which don't, what help parents themselves need etc. etc.
I am not a medical doctor but the self-training I've undergone since DS diagnosis has been about the level I'd imagine a GP would need to undergo to cover that side of things for patients with ADHD. I know there are GPs with a specialism in diabetes, for example. So having a GP who specialises in ADHD would seem to be an ideal solution - in fact, maybe I will write to my MP who does occasionally listen.