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ADHD & ASD Assessment for adults

Posted By junece66

"ADHD & ASD Assessment for adults"

About: Highland Community Services / Community Mental Health

(as the patient),

I have been referred to Adult Services after years of realising that the reason I struggle is due to it being very likely that I am Neurodiverse.  My mum, brother, children, grandchildren, cousins, their children are all diagnosed.  I felt that I had got to this age struggling, but I managed it and there was no point in finding out for sure.  I am well supported by my husband. Things have changed over the last two years and I built up the courage to discuss with my GP.  She decided to refer me.  I chased up the referral only to be told that funding has been pulled.  So no adult assessments will be completed and there is also a shortage of medications also. After mustering up the confidence to finally speak to my GP, it has been pointless. I could be waiting indefinitely.  

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Responses

Response from Arlene Johnstone, Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities & Drug & Alcohol Recovery Service, Mental Health, NHS Highland 7 months ago
Arlene Johnstone
Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities & Drug & Alcohol Recovery Service, Mental Health,
NHS Highland

Submitted on 16/09/2024 at 14:05
Published on Care Opinion at 14:06

Dear junece66,

Thank you for writing to us about your recent experiences and we apologise for taking so long to reply to you.

We are sorry that having had the courage to speak to your GP, you have not been able to get any further at present, and we acknowledge how frustrating this must be for you and your family.

Back in October 2022 we worked with the Scottish Government to initiate a pathway for ADHD as a pilot project. The demand for this service was very high and this quickly overwhelmed our capacity to respond timeously to referrals and in a way that allowed the patient journey to progress efficiently. We are therefore working to redesign the pathway in keeping with national learning from ours and other pilot sites across Scotland. We are sorry but unfortunately this is taking longer than we would like due to significant pressures across our clinical and operational services. The national shortages of medication to treat ADHD that have been ongoing since October 2023 has also caused significant difficulty in progressing treatment trials for some patients. We do know that long waiting times for assessment of ADHD are a problem throughout the UK and we hope that by working together with the Scottish Government and the other pilot sites are able to develop our assessment and treatment pathways.

I would like to thank you again for taking the time to raise this important issue as this helps us to work at improving our services.

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