26-05-2025
GPs to diagnose ADHD
Andy Park: If there's a young person in your life with ADHD, you'll know that diagnosis can take years and cost thousands of dollars in specialist bills. And it's not just young people either. Now, New South Wales is to allow GPs to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder without a referral. Angus Randall reports.
Angus Randall: When mother of seven Neridah Armstrong sought treatment for her son Andrew, who has ADHD, she faced lengthy wait times to see a specialist.
Neridah Armstrong : You have to get a referral from your GP. You have to send it off to a practice. They decide whether or not they want to see you. If they don't, you're back to your GP and you continue that cycle until you find somebody that's actually willing to take you on.
Angus Randall: She eventually found treatment for her son, but says others haven't been so lucky.
Neridah Armstrong : He knows a lot of people that have actually stopped treatment, don't take their medication.
Angus Randall: The New South Wales government has announced GPs will soon be able to diagnose ADHD and prescribe some medication once they've completed special training. The government's funded 1000 training spots, meaning one in 15 GPs across the state could gain this accreditation. Ryan Park is the state's health minister.
Ryan Park: When people are waiting up to two years to get a diagnosis and then ongoing treatment, it's my responsibility and the mental health minister's responsibility to make sure that we're looking at ways to reform that system.
Angus Randall: The move is backed by the Royal Australian College of GPs. Dr Rebekah Hoffman is chair of the New South Wales and ACT division.
Rebekah Hoffman: They won't have to go back to the pediatrician or the psychiatrist for their routine medication on an ongoing basis. The GPs that will want to do this training are the ones that already work in this space.
Angus Randall: It's a condition that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says affects around 7% of children. There's no test for ADHD. It's up to the doctor to make their diagnosis based on an assessment of the patient and information from the family. Dr Rebekah Hoffman insists GPs will have the time and training to make the right decision.
Rebekah Hoffman: It is a really difficult diagnosis to make and it's not one which GPs will be making haphazardly. It's something that I completely agree isn't going to happen in a 15 minute consult and the GPs that already work in this space are doing the 60 to 90 minute consultations in line with what's happening with psychiatrists and psychologists to make these diagnosis.
Angus Randall: The Royal Australian College of Physicians, which represents pediatricians, says it wants to work with GPs but diagnosing ADHD should remain specialist led. Dr Nitin Kapur is the college's head pediatrician.
Nitin Kapur: It's unclear what training is being proposed here first of all and ADHD is not a single diagnosis. It co-occurs with developmental, behavioural and other mental health conditions and these can include anxiety, depression, trauma, learning difficulties and a short course. And we don't even know what we're talking about that the GPs do will probably not do justice and will likely result in misdiagnosis.
Angus Randall: Queensland GPs have been diagnosing and prescribing ADHD medication in children since 2017 and WA brought in similar reforms earlier this year. Dr Chris Soo is a Gold Coast GP specialising in ADHD. He says GPs are already offering many specialist services so this would be no different.
Chris Soo: GPs do like vasectomies. GPs work in vein clinics and skin cancer and learn to diagnose those sorts of things. General practice is its own specialty these days.
Angus Randall: He hopes the New South Wales rollout will be smoother than Queensland's.
Chris Soo: When Queensland brought it in, they brought it in and then basically didn't tell GPs about it or anybody about it. And I do a lot of advocacy work and people all around the country very senior, very high up in ADHD advocacy have no idea that. So Queensland GPs are actually allowed to totally initiate, diagnose and do everything for like any patient below the age of 18. And then no one got told about the regulation, didn't promote it, nothing. It's almost like they went, you can do it but maybe you shouldn't. It's great that they're being funded to do training because the whole system works better if clinicians get good training.
Angus Randall: The state government says New South Wales GPs could be managing ongoing prescriptions for ADHD patients within months and assessments for children could start from early next year with adults to follow soon after.
Andy Park: Angus Randall there.
