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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Diagnosis

01 February 2023

Lead MP

Esther McVey
Tatton
Con

Responding Minister

Maria Caulfield

Tags

NHSEconomyTaxationForeign AffairsMental HealthChildren & Families
Word Count: 3142
Other Contributors: 1

At a Glance

Esther McVey raised concerns about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key Requests to Government:

Will the Minister meet me and my constituent Tanya Bardsley to discuss ADHD? Will the Government start collecting national data on ADHD and introduce an ADHD wait list dashboard?

How the Debate Unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:

Lead Contributor

Tatton
Opened the debate
An early diagnosis of ADHD is essential for individuals' development, self-confidence, and mental wellbeing. However, only one in 20 adults with ADHD have had a formal diagnosis due to poor understanding, stigma, and delays. The delay can lead to severe consequences such as attempted suicide among those undiagnosed.

Government Response

Maria Caulfield
Government Response
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Nokes. I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Esther McVey) for securing this important debate. I believe there are two more debates on this issue next week in this Chamber, so she is leading the way in securing this debate, as a starter for that further consideration. This is a really important issue... We know that people with ADHD have positive traits, strengths and abilities, such as creativity, resilience and the ability to hyper-focus. My right hon. Friend referred to her constituent Tanya Bardsley, who has shown that people with ADHD can be extremely successful, but there are also challenges, as she clearly set out, in living with ADHD and in getting a diagnosis, which is often necessary for people to get the support they need... I am not going to pretend that there is not a problem with accessing assessments at the moment. Many of my constituents also come to see me about that, and many have to go private to get a diagnosis. I fully acknowledge that that is not acceptable... NICE does not actually recommend a maximum waiting time for a diagnosis, so there is no benchmark or gold standard to measure services against... The second issue that my right hon. Friend highlighted is a national dataset for ADHD assessment waiting times. There is no national collection of data and I note that she said that charities have gone to each ICB for data... We are doing so much work in this area at the moment... For decades, mental health services, including neurodiversity services, have been the Cinderella service in health, with physical health much more predominant. We are making the change now to achieve parity of esteem between the two services, but there is a lot of work to do to catch up, and having the data to be able to measure waiting times and standards is a key part of that... The NICE guidelines also recognise that ADHD is under-diagnosed in women and girls, and that the indicators are very different. In my work in mental health, we see the consequences of that in young women and girls being admitted to mental health in-patient facilities and having a higher rate of suicide... There are a number of ways in which we are trying to improve access to assessment and diagnosis... We know that children with ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions such as autism can thrive in and out of school if they get the support they need. We have a trial under way in Bradford looking at an early diagnosis tool to help teachers, parents and others to identify the needs of those with neurodiverse conditions... We also have the special educational needs and disabilities Green Paper, which sets out proposals to improve the outcomes of children and young people with SEND, including those with ADHD, and we will publish a full response to the Green Paper in an improvement plan imminently. Hopefully, my right hon. Friend will feel that that addresses some of the issues that she has raised today... The mental health support teams that are now being placed in schools have made a real difference on the ground... I acknowledge that we are not where we want to be with support for ADHD, whether on diagnosis, support or access to assessments. When we respond to the Green Paper, we will hopefully show that we are serious about changing that and making support more easily available. The Bradford pilot will hopefully improve access to services, but the key is getting the data... I commit today to look at the data on waiting times and at a dashboard, because we cannot plan services if we do not know how many people are waiting for an assessment and an ADHD diagnosis.
Assessment & feedback
Summary accuracy

About Westminster Hall Debates

Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.