Diagnosis

1. Ask your GP for a refrerral

You will need to ask for a referral to the adult ADHD service. As adult ADHD has only recently been recognised, your GP might not know much about it.

It can be helpful to bring evidence to your appointment, such as school reports, or supporting letters from family members (ADHD symptoms must have been present from a young age).

You may be asked to complete a questionnaire such as the one below.

2. Referral to adult ADHD service.

There may be a long waiting list.

If your symptoms are negatively affecting your life, and you feel the wait is too long, you can request something called 'Right to choose', which means your NHS funding can be used to get diagnosed by a private clinic.

3. Complete paperwork

You may be sent a letter with a longer questionnaire, this may look something like this (see below link).

It may have a section for a parent or carer to fill in, to evidence symptoms from early childhood. It is a good idea to include scans of school reports or any other evidence to support your application.

4. You will be invited for assessment

You will receive a letter and email of your appointment for an assessment.

You have 6 weeks to confirm this or you will lose your appointment.

5. Diagnosis

The ADHD diagnosis assessment will take between 1-3 hours. It will focus on your answers from previous questionnaires, and evidence such as school reports or letters from parents or carers.

After your assessment, you will receive a letter and email from the adult ADHD service about your assessment.

If you are diagnosed, there will be information about the diagnosis, and categorisation of your symptoms into:

• Hyperactive ADHD

• Inattentive ADHD

• Combined ADHD (A combination of both)

6. Treatment

After diagnosis, you can arrange medication with the psychiatrist. This will be stimulant or non-stimulant, and after a few weeks of monitoring and establishing an appropriate dose, you will be transferred back to your GP to prescribe and manage this.

Medication is not the only form of treatment for ADHD it can be used combined or separately to the resources below.

7. Alternative treatment

For those who choose not to use medication to treat negative ADHD symptoms, there are other treatment options, such as ADHD coaches, therapists, CBT, mindfulness, diet & lifestyle choices, and useful strategies and tools which can be used.

It is important to consider using a neurodiversity and ADHD aware practitioner for the most effective support and treatment. Please see the links below for more information if this is something you would like to explore.