The second part of ADHD Taskforce report calls for a cross-government approach including health, education, employment and the criminal justice system.
Among 15 recommendations, the report calls for school interventions to improve ADHD outcomes and for the expansion of workforce skills in health, education, relevant sectors of employment and the criminal justice system to better recognise and support people with ADHD based on their needs without waiting for a diagnosis.
It states: ‘The implementation of the 10-Year Health Plan for England needs to ensure ADHD is a priority given its costs, impacts and historical neglect despite the availability of effective treatments. This includes digitisation and embedding ADHD assessment and care within neighbourhood health centres with expanded roles for practitioners within primary care.'
NHS England said it had begun working with local systems to implement key recommendations and improve care for people with ADHD with the Medium-Term Planning Framework and has set clear expectations for ICBs and trusts to improve access, experience and outcomes over the next three years.
Dr Adrian James, NHS England's medical director for mental health and neurodiversity, said: ‘We will review the recommendations in the final report with colleagues across Government, as well as continuing to make progress on wider work to support local teams to address challenges.'
Rebecca Gray, mental health director at the NHS Confederation said: ‘Given the recognition that solutions to both diagnosis and ongoing support and treatment lie not just in the health service, NHS leaders will also need to continue working closely with local authority partners to map out what works best for the provision of services locally.
‘Improving services will take time, but much good practice already exists, and it will be important to ensure that ongoing training and development of all NHS staff in neurodiversity is factored into the government's forthcoming NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan.
‘We would also hope that in its response to the review, NHS England consider what incentives can be put in place to ensure these recommendations can be implemented.'
