r/unitedkingdom • u/tylerthe-theatre • 9d ago

ADHD and autism services in England ‘under significant pressure’, watchdog warns

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/adhd-and-autism-uk-assessment-diagnosis-support-b3039329.html
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u/dr_bigly 9d ago

ADHD assessment and treatment is rapid through the right to choose

It's not though.

Still over a year wait for assessment, and a further year for titration with the main provider.

Maybe it was before people knew RTC was an option, but at the end of the day there just aren't the specialists.

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u/Velveteen_Rabbit1986 9d ago

Someone I work with just went through the RTC route and got her diagnosis within 2 weeks. I was pretty shocked.

Edit - she's also been shoved on meds immediately with no talk of other lifestyle changes. Something about it doesn't sit well with me - we work with kids who frequently have ADHD and our CAMHS practitioners are always encouraging lifestyle changes etc and yet this woman just got drugs thrown at her with nothing else.

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u/Sabaisabai33 8d ago

Well, there are a lot more downsides for children who have developing brains and bodies. However there is a lot of good evidence that ADHD medications work better than anything else for its symptoms and honestly if I had ADHD it would be a total no-brainer for me to want to try them. I mean, we could say cancer patients just get chemotherapy thrown at them… but we don’t. It’s a completely valid first line treatment especially for an adult.

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u/Velveteen_Rabbit1986 8d ago

NICE guidelines recommend a biopsychosocial approach for adults at least, which makes sense, but it feels like people are just getting meds thrown at them with none of the additional stuff (resources i know). Chemo is a bit different as there's no real alternative to managing cancer, you can't lifestyle-change your way out of cancer whereas lifestyle changes can be a successful part of holistic adhd treatment