In a welcome move that’ll streamline the time and cost of waiting around to meet a specialist, treating and diagnosing ADHD in NSW will soon be as simple as visiting your local GP.
Under new changes announced by the NSW Government on Monday, up to 1,000 GPs will be able to complete additional training to provide ongoing ADHD prescriptions for those on stable doses of medication.
A smaller cohort of GPs will be able to apply for additional training and accreditation, funded by the state, which will allow them to diagnose and treat both children and adults with ADHD.
The move will significantly simplify the current process, which can be pretty frustrating to say the least. As it stands, it requires people seeking an ADHD assessment to be referred to a psychiatrist — which can cost several hundred dollars per session — while GPs aren’t able to prescribe ADHD-related meds without approval from NSW Health.
TLDR, getting that ADHD diagnosis and prescription often results in high costs and some pretty significant wait lists, especially in regional areas.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the state’s reforms will help “tilt the scales in favour of fairness”.
“By safely training more GPs to treat and diagnose ADHD, we are hoping to break the cycle of people having to wait years for, what can be, a life-altering diagnosis,” he said in a statement on Monday.
NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park added this should help people who are struggling to access life-changing treatment for the condition, while also relieving some of the pressure on in-demand specialists.
“The option to see a GP to manage ADHD will provide a timely, safe and appropriate pathway to care,” he said.
Around one in every 20 Australians have ADHD, and according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, over 4.6 million prescriptions for ADHD medications were dispensed to just under 600,000 patients across the country from 2023 to 2024.
Dr Rebekah Hoffman, NSW & ACT chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), said she’s heard of some families having to shell out more than $5,000 just on ADHD assessments and diagnosis.
“This announcement will have life-changing impacts when it comes to accessing timely and affordable ADHD care for families across the state,” she said.
She also pointed out this measure already exists in other states like Queensland, where GPs have been prescribing ADHD medications since 2017. Such changes have also been proposed in Western Australia.
“We thank the Minns Labor Government and our non-GP specialist colleagues for working with us to deliver safe, accessible, affordable care for children with ADHD. In the years ahead, we look forward to working constructively with the Government to go even further and train up more GPs to diagnose and initiate medication so that all families can access the care and treatment they need,” Hoffman said.
The government will soon seek expressions of interest from GPs to undertake additional education and training funded by NSW Health. In the first stage, it’ll be prioritising children — meaning adults might have to wait a little longer for these GP services to become available.
“This is because a delay in diagnosis can have a significant impact on a child’s development, such as poorer academic progress, employment opportunities and mental health,” the Minns government explained.
Ongoing prescriptions for children are expected to kick off in early 2026.
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