'Greater Urgency' Needed In ADHD Services – Alliance

Alliance has called for "greater urgency" is required on the commissioning of ADHD services, as more people seek diagnostic services and support.

Health Spokesperson and South Belfast MLA, Paula Bradshaw, said: "It is beyond frustrating for people to seek vital diagnostic services and to be told that they are neither commissioned nor funded. This then becomes yet another example of the two-tier health service, where people who can afford to pay for a diagnosis and for ongoing medication do so, while those who cannot are left languishing.

"Families are facing a prohibitive financial burden in order to seek what should be fairly basic diagnostic services. It is also very noticeable how much these vary from location to location.

"There is now a much greater awareness of ADHD, but failure to ensure prompt diagnosis then means that guidelines on how best to support people living with it, including in schools, cannot be followed and that potentially vital medication cannot be prescribed.

"This is yet another example of where a single-system approach, ensuring the commissioning of ADHD services on the same basis for everyone in Northern Ireland, would be greatly beneficial. Most of all, it is another example of why we need a Minister in place, accountable for the provision of services and for the funding to make them sustainable."